President Jonathan Challenges Boko Haram

President Goodluck Jonathan has challenged the islamist sect Boko Haram to identify themselves and state clearly their demands as a basis for talks. 

The president acknowledged that military confrontation alone will not end their insurgency. In an interview at the presidential villa in Abuja, president Jonathan also said there was no doubt that Boko Haram had links with other Jihadist groups outside Nigeria. 

President Jonathan cautioned that the crisis would be much harder to resolve than the one in the oil rich Niger Delta, which was largely resolved in 2009 under an amnesty he helped broker.

Police source said that suspected members of Boko Haram had reached out to the police for potential dialogue, with the Emir of Kano as mediator.