Nigeria’s government is in talks with Islamist militant group Boko Haram about a possible ceasefire with the ultimate aim of securing a permanent cessation of hostilities.
According to the country’s information minister, this is the first time in years the government has said it is talking to Boko Haram about a ceasefire in an insurgency that has killed tens of thousands of people since 2009.
The cessation of hostility talks were disclosed as a background for the reason behind the release of the kidnapped Dapchi girls. Boko Haram split when Islamic State named Abu Musab al-Barnawi as the group’s leader in August 2016. The other main division is led by Abubakar Shekau, Boko Haram’s most recognizable figure. He is known for videos taunting Nigerian authorities, and his faction uses girls as suicide bombers.
Boko Haram aims to create an Islamic state. Its campaign has spread to neighboring Chad, Cameroon, and Niger but the group has been severely weakened in recent years by regional military pressure, and it has lost most of the territory it once held.
