Deal Close with Boko Haram for Release of Kidnapped Nigerian Girls

Some of the girls captured by Boko Haram

The Nigerian government and Boko Haram are close to a deal on releasing 219 schoolgirls that the radical Islamist group kidnapped five months ago, according to media reports.

The reports on Monday said government and Boko Haram representatives had held secret talks sponsored by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

The deal would involve the release of the girls in exchange for 18 Boko Haram commanders held in prisons around the country.

I will be really surprised if such a deal includes all 219 or so missing girls, but I pray it does and I pray the leaders ratify it, and nobody sabotages it.

I also see numerous problems in that some of the girls have been allegedly killed, some have gotten sick and died. At least one has been identified as a suicide bomber. Some, apparently have been married to soldiers. How difficult will it be to separate married girls from their husbands?

Representatives of the two parties are now due to consult their leaders on the swap deal proposal, The Nation said. Both Abubakar Shekau and President Goodluck Jonathon are pretty erratic people. There's no telling what they might do. Please pray the deal goes through and the girls, those who are still alive, will make it home this week.

 Boko Haram kidnapped the girls from their school's dormitory in the town of Chibok, in north-eastern Borno State, on April 14.

Some of the girls have since managed to escape from their captors. Like 4.