Good News: The 219 are coming home.

The estimated 276 girls abducted in April from a boarding school in Chibok in northeastern Nigeria by terrorist group Boko Haram will soon be released. Dozens escaped, but about 219 are still missing.


"Nigeria finally has reached a ceasefire agreement with the Islamist terror group Boko Haram that includes the release of more than 200 kidnapped schoolgirls," Nigerian officials said Friday.

The deal came Thursday night after a month of negotiations with representatives of the group. "We have agreed on the release of the Chibok schoolgirls, and we expect to conclude on that at our next meeting with the group's representative next week in Chad," said Hassan Tukur, principal secretary to President Goodluck Jonathan.

Officials provided few details about the release.
Doyin Okupe, a government spokesman, did not specify when the girls would be freed. He said not all would be let go at once, but a "significant number" would be released soon.


Nigerian officials met with Boko Haram in Chad twice during talks mediated by Chadian President Idriss Deby, according to Tukur.

"The group has shown willingness to abide by the agreement which ‎it demonstrated with the release of the Chinese and Cameroonian hostages few days ago," Tukur said.

"A batch of them will be released shortly, and this will be followed by further actions from Boko Haram," he said. "It is a process. ... It is not a question of hours and days."
The Nigerian government consented to some demands by Boko Haram, but Okupe declined to provide details.
The government, he said, "is looking beyond the girls. We want to end the insurgency in this country."
"On the war front," he added, "we can say there is peace now."
The agreement was first reported by Agence France-Presse.

Finally, insurgency is coming to an end in Nigeria