Nigerian Islamists ready to talk to government

A Nigerian Islamist sect behind a spate of bombings and shoot-and-run killings on Monday said it would lay down arms and open dialogue with authorities provided some conditions are met. One of the conditions Boko Haram set was the strict application of Sharia law in 12, or a third, of Nigeria's 36 states. "We demand for the strict enforcement of sharia legal system in the Muslim-dominated states in the north as part of conditions for dialogue with the government," the group said in a statement anonymously delivered to journalists in the northeastern city of Maiduguri. The 12 states re-adopted Sharia in 1999, but Boko Haram - whose name means 'Western education is sin' in the local hausa dialect - believes the law is cosmetic and not adhered to. Written in the widely-spoken northern language of hausa, the statement titled "conditions for dialogue with President Goodluck Jonathan and governor Kashim Shettima" was released in Maiduguri where the sect has concentrated its attacks. The statement was in apparent response to overtures for talks with the militants by the newly-elected governor of Borno state, Shettima, with the backing of Jonathan. Jonathan last week told reporters in New York that he would support attempts to talk to the Islamic militants in the predominately Muslim north to end months of deadly unrest in this region of Africa's most populous country. The group, demanded the prosecution, under the Islamic Sharia law, of some politicians, traditional and security forces accused of responsibility for the alleged extra-judicial killing of sect members in the 2OO9 uprising. "If the government meets these conditions we will agree to a ceasefire and enter into dialogue with them," said the statement signed by one Usman Al-Zawahiri claiming to be its spokesman. But someone else claiming to be the sect spokesman, identifying himself as Abu Darda on the Hausa-language service of the BBC, had last month ruled out talks with government. "We are fighting for the enthronement of an Islamic State. We have gone beyond the stage of dialogue and negotiation with government," he said. Boko Haram, also known as the Nigerian Talibans, launched an uprising in 2009 which was put down by a brutal military assault that left hundreds dead. The sect which has pushed for the creation of an Islamic state, has been blamed for shootings of police and community leaders, poll-related bomb blasts, and raids on churches, police stations and a prison. It has claimed responsibility for a number of attacks including the most recent bombings that killed over a dozen people at a beer garden in northern Bauchi state just hours after Jonathan was sworn into office. Nigeria, with some 150 million people, has a mainly Muslim north and predominately Christian south.