[ 2011-07-31 ]

Nigeria to open talks with Islamist sect: official
ABUJA (AFP) - Nigeria's government will open talks
with an Islamist sect blamed for scores of deadly
bomb blasts and shootings in the northeast, a
federal government statement said Saturday.

The panel will negotiate with the Boko Haram sect
and report back to the government on or before
August 16, the statement from the office of the
secretary of the federal government said.

President Goodluck Jonathan has named the seven
members of the panel, including the ministers of
defence and labour as well as the minister of the
Federal Capital Territory, which encompasses
Abuja, the statement added.

Describing the panel's duties, it said they would
include acting "as a liaison between the federal
government ... and Boko Haram and to initiate
negotiations with the sect."

It would also work with the national security
adviser to ensure the country's security forces
were acting with "professionalism," the statement
said.

A police-military task force in the northeastern
city of Maiduguri, where most of the violence has
occurred, has been accused of carrying out raids
in recent weeks that have left dozens dead and
residents' homes burnt.

The panel will be inaugurated on Tuesday, the
statement said.

The decision to negotiate with the sect is almost
sure to be controversial.

Many people have argued against such a move,
objecting in particular to any suggestion the
Islamists be given an amnesty similar to that
provided to militants in the oil-producing Niger
Delta.

Jonathan appointed the panel after meeting with
leaders from the mainly Muslim north earlier this
month, the statement said.

Nigeria's northeast, particularly Maiduguri, has
seen almost daily bomb blasts and shootings in
recent weeks blamed on the sect.

The sect has claimed to be fighting for the
establishment of an Islamic state in Nigeria,
Africa's most populous nation of 150 million
people split roughly in half between Christians
and Muslims.

Boko Haram launched an uprising in 2009 put down
by a brutal military assault that left hundreds
dead.

It seemed to re-emerge last year with
assassinations by gunmen on motorcycles of police,
soldiers, politicians and community leaders.

Bomb blasts have become more common in recent
months, with most occurring in Maiduguri, though
an explosion ripped through a car park at police
headquarters in the capital Abuja last month and
several blasts have occurred in Suleija, near the
capital.

There has been intense speculation over whether
some of the violence has been politically linked
and if the sect has received support from Islamist
groups outside of Nigeria.

Source - AFP

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