Nigeria says no negotiations with Boko Haram terrorists

By Adam Abu-bashal

ABUJA, Nigeria (AA) – Nigeria announced Thursday that it would not negotiate with the Boko Haram terrorist group.

Speaking at a press conference, National Security Adviser Babagana Monguno said the Nigerian government does not see negotiations as a means to deal with the worsening security conditions in the country.

“Negotiating would mean weakness. Instead, we will mobilize all our power to eradicate the violence in the country,” he noted.

Earlier this month, President Muhammadu Buhari said that armed groups had been given two months to lay down their arms and surrender.

Boko Haram launched a bloody insurgency in 2009 in northeastern Nigeria but later spread its atrocities to neighboring Niger, Chad and Cameroon, prompting a military response.

More than 30,000 people have been killed and nearly 3 million displaced in a decade of Boko Haram's terrorist activities in Nigeria, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

Violence committed by Boko Haram has affected some 26 million people in the Lake Chad region and displaced 2.6 million others, according to the UN Refugee Agency.

​​​​​​​*Writing by Ahmet Gencturk