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Abuja — Nigeria opened negotiations with Boko Haram over the release of the kidnapped Chibok girls last year, but the talks were derailed due to a split in the extremist group, a minister said on Friday.
Speaking at a press conference in the capital Abuja, information minister Lai Mohammed said the Department of State Services (DSS) started negotiations with the Islamists in July 2015.
In exchange for the girls, who were kidnapped in April 2014 from a school in the remote northeastern town of Chibok, Boko Haram demanded the release of some of its fighters.
Out of the 276 girls kidnapped, scores escaped in the hours after the kidnapping, while another was rescued earlier this year.
Mohammed said that by August 2015 the government was close to clinching the swap deal when Boko Haram issued a new set of demands. — AFP.
Bongani Ndlovu