Captured Nigerian girls ‘to be released by Tuesday’

Nigeria aims to secure the release of 200 women and girls kidnapped by the armed group Boko Haram by Tuesday, a “senior source at the presidency” told Reuters.

The man told Reuters that that the government was “working hard to meet its own part of the agreement so that the release of the abductees can by effected either on Monday or latest Tuesday.”

In exchange, the Nigerian government is said to release Boko Haram members.

Boko Haram — the group's nickname means "education is sinful" — drew international condemnation with the April kidnapping of 276 girls and young women from a boarding school in the remote northeastern town of Chibok.

The truce would enable the release of the women and girls kidnapped while taking exams in a secondary school in April.

Dozens escaped in the first couple of days, but 219 remain missing.

On Friday, the head of Nigeria’s military announced that authorities had reached a deal with Boko Haram for a ceasefire, while Boko Haram is yet to comment on the ceasefire.

Some Nigerians are likely to greet claims of a ceasefire with scepticism after five years of violence, especially after suspected Boko Haram fighters were accused of launching a deadly attack on five villages on Saturday.

Since the girls' abduction, Nigeria's military has twice claimed to have rescued some or all of the girls, only to back-track hours later.

Several rounds of negotiations with Boko Haram have been attempted in recent years but they have never achieved a peace deal, partly because the group has several different factions.