BY TheCable
Nigeria’s security agencies are hoping to cash in on the fast-approaching month of Ramadan to secure the release of the kidnapped schoolgirls.
Over 300 girls were kidnapped from Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State, on April 14/15.
While some have either escaped or been released, 219 are still in captivity, according to a presidential fact-finding committee.
Ramadan, expected to start by June 28, is the holiest month in Islamic calendar during which all Muslims are expected to be sober and exhibit more religious piety.
In the last five years since the Boko Haram insurgency entered the bombing phase, the militants ─ who say they want to turn Nigeria into an Islamic republic ─ have hardly struck during Ramadan.
“We know the location of the girls. That is not the problem. The real issue is if we carry out any military operation to rescue them, it would be tragic,” a senior military officer told TheCable on Monday.
He said the Ramadan period offers a “rare opportunity” to secure the release of the girls who were abducted while writing their final exams.
The source did not expatiate on how the government hopes to use the Ramadan window to get the girls released ─ the official position is that there will be no negotiation with terrorists ─ but he hinted at some concessions being granted to the third party negotiators.
The government has been engaging with third-party or “back channel” negotiators to discuss with the Boko Haram leaders, according to various reports.
It was recently reported that President Goodluck Jonathan had initially agreed that some non-combatant Boko Haram sympathisers should be released in exchange for the girls but pulled the plug at the last minute.
The story was neither denied nor confirmed by the federal government.
An Australian, Dr Stephen Davis, also said recently that he was involved in the negotiation for the release of the girls.
He said the signs were encouraging, but there has been no progress reported since then.
However, Aisha Wakil, a member of the Committee on Dialogue and Peaceful Resolution of Security Challenges in the North set up by Jonathan last year, has said the militants were ready to release the girls.
In an interview with AlJazeera at the weekend, she said the militants were asking for 70 of their detained members to be released in exchange for the girls.
Wakil, who said she had been very close to the group before they became violent, revealed that Boko Haram had separated the girls into “many groups”.
Asked how the schoolgirls were being treated, she said the group does not “touch women or elderly ones” but added that they have evolved over the years.
“I have spoken to them about the girls and the situation to plead for their release. When this first happened they told me the girls are well but some are sick. They need medication. They are giving them antibiotics but they cannot buy food to feed them. They are attacking villages for supplies,” she told AlJazeera.
Boko Haram said the government must free about 70 of their fighters from prison to get the girls out, Wakil said.
“And they want to be given amnesty, rehabilitated, and allowed to come back home and move freely,” she added.
“I told them not to hold the girls as ransom and to give me the sick ones – and that was where we ended up. The girls are a growing burden to them, and if the demands are not met…
“I don’t agree with what they are doing, but I speak to them because I am their mother. Sometimes they call me Um el Salam [Arabic for mother of peace]. These are Nigeria’s lost boys. My hope is that the government listens to them and lets them have dialogue.
“I’m still with them after all these years because I didn’t betray them. I didn’t betray the government, I didn’t betray the military – I’m just in the middle grasping for peace.”
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