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Nigeria: Boko Haram militants call for dialogue
(Reuters) – A purported senior member of Islamist militant group Boko Haram has distributed a letter requesting talks with the government, a day after a double suicide bombing blamed on the sect killed at least 11 and wounded 30 in an army barracks.
The letter was signed by Sheik Abu Mohammed Ibn Abdulazeez, a man known by local security sources to be a sect member but considered to be a moderate.
If the letter is genuine, it would appear to mark a change of tack for the Islamists that fits ill with a spate of violent episodes, including the bombing of the military church on Sunday. That bombing showed a degree of sophistication not seen from Boko Haram for months.
The Boko Haram disturbances have replaced militancy in the oil-rich Niger Delta over that time to become the biggest security threat to Africa’s top energy producer.
The letter was handed to the national head of the union of journalists, Aba Kakami, who has often received and distributed statements from the sect, usually claiming attacks against high profile targets or warning of them.
Communication with the shadowy Islamists, who are fighting to impose sharia, Islamic law, on Nigeria, has been even more sporadic than normal since the military killed their spokesman Abu Qaqa in September in a gun battle.
Abdulazeez first contacted journalists in Maiduguri earlier this month, setting conditions for peace talks in teleconference and nominating former military ruler and northerner Muhammadu Buhari as a mediator. Buhari has since declined the offer.
