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Abubakar Shekau

MAIDUGURI. — Abubakar Shekau, the head of the Boko Haram Islamist group that kidnapped more than 200 Nigerian schoolgirls last year, has been ousted as its leader, it has been claimed.

Shekau, who gained worldwide notoriety after appearing in a series of videos in which he threatened to sell the girls as slaves, has been replaced by another Boko Haram deputy who is said to be open to peace talks, according to Idriss Deby, the president of neighbouring Chad.

President Deby, whose forces have been fighting Boko Haram militants around Nigeria’s border areas, made the comments in a press conference on Tuesday in which he claimed that the group was now on the back foot militarily and would be finished “by the end of the year”.

“There is someone apparently called Mahamat Daoud who is said to have replaced Abubakr Shekau and he wants to negotiate with the Nigerian government,” he said. “For my part, I would advise not to negotiate with a terrorist.”

It was not clear how President Deby had obtained his information, although rumours have been circulating in recent months that Shekau had gone on the run or even fled Nigeria altogether as a result of increased military operations against Boko Haram by both the Nigerian and Chadian governments.

Little seems known as of yet about the man named by Deby as his successor, whose name may well be a nom de guerre. — The Telegraph.