Nigerian government says window of negotiation with Boko Haram open

Nigeria's government said on Tuesday the "window of negotiation" is open with Boko Haram rebels who abducted more than 200 girls a month ago from their school in the northeast of the country.
  
"The window of negotiation is still open. The government had set up a committee to negotiate with Boko Haram so if they have any negotiation to make it should be channelled through the committee," Minister of Special Duties Tanimu Turaki told Reuters by telephone. Turaki heads up the negotiation committee.

This comes after Nigeria's president asked parliament for a six-month extension of a state of emergency in three northeastern states due to persistent attacks by Boko Haram, the Islamist militant group that kidnapped more than 200 schoolgirls last month.
  
A state of emergency was declared in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states in May last year and extended in November.
  
"The security situation in the three states remains daunting albeit to varying degrees, in the face of persistent attacks by members of the Boko Haram sects on civilian and military targets with alarming casualty rates," President Goodluck Jonathan said in a letter to parliament seen by Reuters.

Also on Tuesday, U.S. surveillance aircraft were flying over remote areas of northeast Nigeria as part of an international hunt for about 200 girls kidnapped a month ago by Boko Haram militants who stormed their school.

Thousands of Nigerian troops have been sent to the region, while the United States and Britain also have teams on the ground to help with the search.

The mass abduction of the girls from their boarding school in Chibok has caused international outrage and Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan's government has faced criticsim from parents and others for its a slow response.

It has also brought global publicity to Boko Haram, which has killed killed thousands of Nigerians since it took up arms in 2009 to fight for an Islamist state.

The group had initially threatened to sell the girls into slavery but on Monday offered to trade them for detained militants.

The U.S. State Department said Washington had sent military, law-enforcement and development experts to Nigeria to help search for the missing girls.

"We have shared commercial satellite imagery with the Nigerians and are flying manned ISR (intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance) assets over Nigeria with the government's permission," a U.S. official said.

U.S. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said U.S. teams on the ground "are digging in on the search and coordinating closely with the Nigerian government as well as international partners and allies".

The girls' exact whereabouts and whether they are being held in one or more groups is not known. Chibok is close to Nigeria's border with Cameroon, Niger and Chad in a sparsely populated area of the Sahel region.

REUTERS