Nigeria’s
ex-president Olusegun Obasanjo has met with people close to Boko
Haram in an attempt to broker the release of more than 200 kidnapped
schoolgirls, a source close to the talks told AFP.
The meeting took place last weekend at Obasanjo’s
farm in southern Ogun state and included relatives of some senior
Boko Haram fighters as well as intermediaries and the former
president, the source said.
“The
meeting was focused on how to free the girls through negotiation,”
said the source who requested anonymity, referring to the girls
seized on April 14 from the remote northeastern town of Chibok, Borno
state.
Reports of the talks emerged as Nigeria’s Chief
of Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshal Alex Badeh, said the girls had
been located while casting doubt on the prospect of rescuing them by
force.
Obasanjo, who left office in 2007, has previously
sought to negotiate with the insurgents, including in September 2011
after Boko Haram bombed the United Nations headquarters in Abuja.
Then, he flew to the Islamists’ base in the
Borno state capital, Maiduguri, to meet relatives of former Boko
Haram leader Mohammed Yusuf, who was killed in police custody in
2009.
The 2011 talks did not help stem the violence and
some at the time doubted if Obasanjo was dealing with people who were
legitimately capable of negotiating a ceasefire.
Spokesmen for the former head of state, who
remains an influential figure in Nigerian politics, could not be
reached to comment on the latest reported Boko Haram talks.
But the source told AFP that Obasanjo had voiced
concern about Nigeria’s acceptance of foreign military personnel to
help rescue the girls.
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