So is there actually a deal?
David Cook, who studies jihad, wrote on October 18 that he had doubts about a deal going through.
“It remains to be seen whether this truce will actually materialize, whether it is merely an election ploy for Nigeria’s embattled President, Goodluck Jonathan, and most crucially whether it will bring about the release of numerous captives taken by Boko Haram during the past year,” he wrote in an analysis for CNN.
“While Boko Haram has suffered some reverses during the recent past, there is no indication that the group has suffered any mortal damage. The most plausible interpretation of the truce is that it is a bought one (probably in tandem with the Cameroonian release of captives), and that Boko Haram is merely using it (assuming that it holds to the truce at all) as a respite in order to regroup.”
“While Boko Haram has suffered some reverses during the recent past, there is no indication that the group has suffered any mortal damage. The most plausible interpretation of the truce is that it is a bought one (probably in tandem with the Cameroonian release of captives), and that Boko Haram is merely using it (assuming that it holds to the truce at all) as a respite in order to regroup.”
In an article written for CNN the day after Nigeria announced the ceasefire, Brookings’ Richard Joseph wrote: “This is a case when we will actually need to see the girls emerging from their six-month confinement before we can truly believe.”
What has Boko Haram done since Nigeria announced the truce?
Boko Haram gunmen kidnapped at least 30 boys and girls from a village in northeast Nigeria during the weekend.
Last week Boko Haram militia kidnapped 60 women and girls in two Christian villages in neighboring Adamawa state, according to residents and community leaders.
The heavily armed fighters left 1,500 naira, or about $9, and kola nuts as a bride price for each of the women abducted Saturday, suggesting that they would be taken as sex slaves, residents told CNN.
Then on Friday and Saturday, heavily armed Boko Haram gunmen invaded the town of Mafa in Borno state and seized 30 boys and girls, local leaders said.
“They took them away to their base in the bush, and we believe they are going to use them as foot soldiers,” Mafa local government chairman Shettima Maina said.
Mallam Ashiekh Mustapha, the local chief of Mafa who confirmed the abductions, said the kidnappers also stole 300 cows from the farming community in the raid.
Read full: http://edition.cnn.com/2014/10/28/world/africa/boko-haram-missing-explainer/index.html?hpt=hp_t5
