From the Thompson Reuters Foundation:
Nigeria
said on Friday it had agreed a ceasefire with Islamist militants Boko
Haram and reached a deal for the release of more than 200 schoolgirls
kidnapped by the group six months ago.
There was no immediate confirmation from the rebels, who
have wreaked five years of havoc in Africa's top oil producer and
triggered an international outcry by seizing the girls from the
northeast town of Chibok in April.
"I wish to inform this audience that a ceasefire agreement
has been concluded," said the head of Nigeria's military, Air Chief
Marshal Alex Badeh, adding the deal had followed three days of talks
with the militant sect.
Government spokesman Mike Omeri said the deal covered the
release of the captives and Boko Haram had given assurances "that the
schoolgirls and all other people in their captivity are all alive and
well".
Their release would be a huge boost for President Goodluck
Jonathan, who faces an election next year and has been pilloried at home
and abroad for his slow response to the kidnapping and his inability to
quell the violence, the biggest security threat to Africa's biggest
economy....MORE
