Islamists urged to seek peace

Agroup of community elders in northeast Nigeria, where Boko Haram has waged a bloody eight-year insurgency, are urging the Islamists to enter peace talks.

The Borno Elders Forum of retired military and civilian officials, all ethnic Kanuri, said it was “time they put down their arms” and they should “repent and rejoin the larger society”.

President Muhammadu Buhari has given no sign of wanting to negotiate a settlement since he came to power in 2015.

His government has, however, held back-channel talks that secured the release of more than 100 of the 219 Chibok schoolgirls abducted by Boko Haram in 2014.

But the call for negotiations by the elders of Borno state, where the Kanuri is the main ethnic group, has led to speculation that it is driven less by a desire for peace than by ethnic issues.

A senior member of the Civilian Joint Task Force, the militia assisting the military with security, said the proposal was “in bad faith”.

“The elders know how to get in touch with their sons, nephews and brothers who are high-profile Boko Haram leaders,” he said on condition of anonymity.

“If they really mean what they say, they should convince their Boko Haram relations to renounce membership of the group and surrender.”

Kanuri dominance in Boko Haram sparked claims in the earlier stages of the violence that the uprising was a push for a homeland.

Tensions pre-date Boko Haram. The Nigerian military has previously accused the Borno elders of hampering the counter-insurgency. – AFP