Nigeria government in talks with Boko Haram about a possible ceasefire

The Nigerian government has said it's in talks about a possible ceasefire with Islamist terror group Boko Haram, which has kidnapped hundreds of schoolgirls over the years.

The ultimate aim of a possible ceasefire, is securing a permanent cessation of hostilities, said the Minister of Information Lai Mohammed says.

It is the first time in years the government has said it is talking to Boko Haram about a ceasefire in an insurgency that has killed tens of thousands of people and ravaged the northeast of a country that has Africa's biggest economy.

President Muhammadu Buhari's government has, however, repeatedly said it is willing to hold talks with the group.

Boko Haram launched its insurgency in 2009, aiming to create an Islamic state. Its campaign has spread to the neighbouring countries of Chad, Cameroon and Niger but it has been severely weakened in the past few years by regional military pressure, and has lost most of the territory it once held.

More than 2 million people have been displaced and the group has abducted thousands of others, including around 270 girls from a school in Chibok, Borno state, in 2014. The mass kidnapping sparked global outrage and a campaign to bring the girls back.

The group recently released more than 100 schoolgirls they had kidnapped on February 19 from the northeastern town of Dapchi.

It was the biggest mass abduction since Chibok in 2014. 

The group stunned Dapchi's residents on Wednesday when they drove into the town and released the girls, who said five of their group had died in captivity and one had not been freed.

Hopes that the remaining one will be released soon are high as talks continue with the group.

Edited from Reuters