Nigeria’s President Goodluck Jonathan is backtracking over a minister’s claim that the government will negotiate with Boko Haram for the release of the more than 200 schoolgirls kidnapped by the terrorist group.  President Jonathan insists there will be “no negotiations for a prisoner exchange”.

Nigeria’s Interior Ministry says there are more than 4,000 Boko Haram members being detained.  The Islamist group’s leader hinted that the girls could be exchanged for the jailed militants.  But the United Kingdom's Africa Minister Mark Simmons said that President Jonathan indicated the government would not negotiate an exchange.  Jonathan is asking parliament to extend the state of emergency for another six months in the northeast, where Boko Haram is trying to carve out its own country.

The UK, US, and France are still working out how intelligence will be shared with Nigeria, and an incident in Borno state indicates there’s good reason to be concerned about the Nigerian military’s ability to handle international aid.

Soldiers are growing weary of being under paid and under equipped in the fight against Boko Haram, and they staged a demonstration to highlight this.  But Boko Haram ambushed and killed several soldiers coming to join the protest from Chibok town, the place where the girls were kidnapped last month.  In their anger, the troops at the protest opened fire on their commander’s car – he escaped unhurt.

An Army spokesman says the incident was an internal matter and there was no need for public concern.