Hopes that seized girls will be freed as Nigeria claims deal with Boko Haram
Announcement raises hopes Boko Haram will release 200 kidnapped girls, though analysts cast doubt on credibility of breakthrough
PUBLISHED : Saturday, 18 October, 2014, 3:46am
UPDATED : Saturday, 18 October, 2014, 3:46am
Agence France-Presse in Abuja
A protester urges the government to rescue the girls. Photo: AP
Nigeria yesterday claimed to have reached a deal with Boko Haram militants on a ceasefire and the release of more than 200 kidnapped schoolgirls - but doubts immediately surrounded the purported breakthrough.
Chief of Defence Staff Air Marshal Alex Badeh told senior military officials from Nigeria and Cameroon meeting in Abuja that a "ceasefire agreement" had been concluded between the government and the insurgents.
"I have accordingly directed the service chiefs to ensure immediate compliance with this development," he added.
Badeh's announcement came after a senior aide to President Goodluck Jonathan, Hassan Tukur, said a deal to end hostilities had been reached after talks, as well as for the release of 219 girls held captive since April.
But previous claims by the government and military about an end to the five-year conflict and the fate of the missing teenagers have come to naught, and many observers urged caution.
Jonathan is also expected to declare his bid for re-election in the coming weeks, with positive news about the hostages likely to give him a political boost.
Multiple analysts cast doubt over the credibility of a man called Danladi Ahmadu, whom Tukur claimed represented Boko Haram at the two meetings in neighbouring Chad.
"I have never heard of such a man (Ahmadu) and if Boko Haram wanted to declare a ceasefire it would come from the group's leader Abubakar Shekau," said Shehu Sani, a Boko Haram expert who has negotiated with the group before.
Ralph Bello-Fadile, an adviser to Nigeria's National Security Advisor (NSA), told a conference on Monday that the NSA had been inundated with fraudsters claiming to represent Shekau.
"Government wants to negotiate," he told a Chatham House event in Abuja, "but so far nobody has come forward who speaks for Shekau."
Tukur said he represented the government at two meetings with the Islamists in Chad, which were mediated by the country's president, Idriss Deby.
"Boko Haram issued the ceasefire as a result of the discussions we have been having with them," said Tukur, adding that Ahmadu made the announcement on Thursday evening.
"They have agreed to release the Chibok girls," he continued, referring to the girls seized in northeast Nigeria on April 14, causing global outrage.
The Chadian government refused to comment, but security sources in the country said Chad, which Jonathan visited for talks with Deby early last month, had been involved in the discussions.
The source also said a ceasefire agreement was reached as well as the release of 27 hostages, 10 of them Chinese nationals, who were kidnapped in northern Cameroon earlier this year.
The release of the hostages last weekend was "a first strong signal" from Boko Haram to prove their good faith, the source added.
Ahmadu gave an interview broadcast yesterday on Voice of America radio in which he claimed to be the group's "chief security officer" and in charge of publicity.
He made no mention of an end to hostilities and was vague on details of the apparent talks, even claiming not to have met Shekau.
He also referred to the Islamist group as Boko Haram, a name that means 'Western education is forbidden' which was imposed on the radicals by outsiders. The insurgents themselves never use the term.
The group's known leaders have exclusively used the name Jama'atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda'awati wal-Jihad, which means "People Committed to the Propagation of the Prophet's Teachings and Jihad".
Ahmadu made no reference to the Chibok girls and did not mention the creation of an Islamic state in Nigeria's mainly Muslim north - Boko Haram's core, unwavering demand since the uprising began.
