Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari who last month said
the country is “prepared to talk to bonafide leaders of Boko Haram” and
“sources” who know the whereabouts of the Chibok girls has reiterated that his
government will accept United Nations (UN) bodies to act as intermediaries in
any negotiation with Boko Haram. The strategy of negotiating with terrorists
has been criticised before, but it seems dialogue with Boko Haram is now more
of a necessity rather than an option.
Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari who last month said
the country is “prepared to talk to bonafide leaders of Boko Haram” and
“sources” who know the whereabouts of the Chibok girls has revealed that his
government will accept United Nations (UN) bodies to act as intermediaries in
any negotiation with Boko Haram.
Speaking on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, Buhari
said Nigeria is willing to “welcome intermediaries such as U.N. outfits, to
step in” and facilitate talks which will see the Chibok girls who were abducted
in 2014 rescued.
Buhari recently said the country is doing all it can to
rescue the kidnapped Chibok girls and his administration “will never give up on
the Chibok girls”.
Nigeria has been criticised for not doing enough to
confront Boko Haram, and rescue the kidnapped girls.
However, speaking at a bilateral meeting with South
African President Jacob Zuma, on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly,
President Buhari said significant gains against Boko Haram have been achieved.
Buhari said: “the de-radicalization process is also
going on, and we are achieving some measure of success. Even suicide bombing is
becoming rare, as the local people are themselves rejecting indoctrination by
the insurgents”.
However, it remains to be seen whether the fragmented
Boko Haram leadership will agree to come to the negotiation table, and if
exchanging Boko Haram prisoners for the abducted Chibok girls could finally
signal the end of a lengthy period of
insecurity and instability for Nigerian citizens in the country’s
northern and north-eastern regions.
0 comments:
Post a Comment