Præsidenten i den toneangivende vestafrikanske nation siger, han vil forhandle med de yderligtgående islamister, der spreder død og ødelæggelse, men intet er sket, fupmagere har meldt sig på banen, og Boko Haram selv er gået op i limingen.
KANO, 28 November 2012 (IRIN): Attempts by the Nigerian government and the Boko Haram militia to peacefully resolve a three-year-old insurgency (oprør) by the Islamist group have thus far floundered, dashing hopes of an imminent end to the violence which has claimed hundreds of lives.
Rights groups have accused both sides of violations since 2009. In recent months, Boko Haram has intensified attacks and killings, prompting sometimes draconian responses from security forces.
The latest insurgent attack on 25 November in which more than a dozen people were killed targeted a church in an army base outside Kaduna in northern Nigeria.
After a year of negotiation bids between the government and Boko Haram, President Goodluck Jonathan said in a televised interview in November that he was still ready for talks, though there were difficulties.
“There is no dialogue with Boko Haram and the government. There is no dialogue that is going on anywhere. There is no face so you do not have anybody to discuss with”, stated he.
“Boko Haram not faceless”
However, Shehu Sani, the director of Civil Rights Congress, a prominent northern Nigerian rights group, doubted Jonathan’s suggestion that Boko Haram was faceless.
“What about the hundreds of suspected sect members the Nigerian security forces claim to have arrested? Do they also have no face?” retorted he.
Since August 2011, the government has undertaken “back-channel” talks with the Islamists, according to Jonathan’s spokesman, Reuben Abati, based on recommendations by a panel tasked to negotiate with the group and provide amnesty for those who renounce (afsværger sig) violence.
On 16 September 2011, former president Olusegun Obasanjo held talks with some Boko Haram members in their birthplace and stronghold, the northeastern city of Maiduguri.
Here they tabled demands for a ceasefire which included an end to arrests and killings of their members, payment of compensation to families of sect members killed by security personnel, and prosecution of policemen responsible for the killing of sect leader Mohammed Yusuf in June 2009.
“Obasanjo submitted these demands to the president who promised to look into them but he has not implemented any of the demands,” said Sani, who facilitated and participated in the meeting between Obasanjo and the Boko Haram members.
But since then, trust has not been forged (smedet/udbygget) on either side. “The major obstacle to dialogue with Boko Haram is the involvement of scammers (fupmagere),” added Sani.
“Most of the proposals for dialogue are targeted at getting money from the government and the president has on a number of occasions been duped (narret) and deceived (bedraget) by people in the corridors of power who usually present fictitious peace proposal that ends up as a scam.”
Who to deal with?
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http://www.irinnews.org/Report/96915/Analysis-Hurdles-to-Nigerian-government-Boko-Haram-dialogue
