News
Nigeria: Boko Haram withdraw from talks with gov’t
A security official said last week Boko Haram had proposed a three-month truce if all of its detained members were released and if the government halted any further arrests. He said the government was looking at the proposal.
A diplomatic source said there had been “real contacts” between the government and Boko Haram through intermediaries.
Boko Haram has been blamed for scores of shootings and bomb blasts, mostly in northern Nigeria, which have killed more than 1,000 people since 2009.
Abul Qaqa said Tuesday “we are optimistic that we would dismantle this government and establish Islamic government in Nigeria.”
Boko Haram claimed responsibility for an August suicide attack at the UN headquarters in the capital Abuja which killed 25 people and for coordinated bombings and shootings in Nigeria’s second city of Kano on January 20 which left 185 people dead, its deadliest assault yet.
The group had initially claimed to be fighting for the creation of an Islamic state in northern Nigeria, but its aims and structure have since become less clear, while its attacks have grown increasingly deadly and sophisticated.
Calls have mounted for talks to take place, with Nigerian authorities seemingly unable to stop attacks blamed on Boko Haram that have shaken Africa’s most populous nation and largest oil producer.
Copyright 2012 AFP.
