Boko Haram to Release Chibok Girls as Part of Cease-fire Deal!

Militant group Boko Haram and the Nigerian government have reached a cease-fire agreement that calls for the release of more than 200 girls the militants kidnapped from the town of Chibok in April.

The two sides reached the agreement Friday at talks in Saudi Arabia that involved Chadian President Idriss Deby and high-level officials from Cameroon.

Hassan Tukur, a close adviser to Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan, and Danladi Ahmadu, who calls himself the secretary-general of Boko Haram, have told VOA’s Hausa-language service that the girls are to be released Monday in Chad.

On April 14, dozens of Boko Haram fighters stormed a secondary school in Chibok, kidnapping around 270 girls. Fifty-seven managed to escape.

Ahmadu said the other girls are alive and “in good condition and unharmed.”

The sources say the girls will be handed over to Chadian President Deby for transfer to Nigerian authorities. They also say Nigerian and Boko Haram delegates will meet in the Chadian capital, N’Djamena, to discuss Boko Haram’s demands, such as the release of imprisoned militants.

Earlier, Nigeria’s chief of defense staff, General Alex Badeh, issued an order to all military chiefs, telling them “to comply with the cease-fire agreement between Nigeria and Boko Haram in all theaters of operations.”

The cease-fire marks a possible end to a five-year insurgency in which several thousand Nigerians have been killed.

Source: VOA