Missing girls: Nigeria willing to talk to Boko Haram

Nigeria said it was willing to talk to Boko Haram militants, as the United States sent its top Africa general for talks on the rescue mission of more than 200 kidnapped schoolgirls.

The governor of Nigeria's north-eastern Borno state, Kashim Shettima, confirmed that all of the girls shown in the latest video released by the militant Islamist group had been identified as students in the school attacked in Chibok last month.

President Goodluck Jonathan on Tuesday requested a six-month extension to the state of emergency declared in Borno and two neighbouring states a year ago because of the "daunting" security situation.

Special duties minister Taminu Turaki restated the Nigerian government's position that it was open to negotiations on ending Boko Haram's increasingly bloody five-year insurgency.

Turaki, who last year headed a committee tasked with pursuing an amnesty pact with some of the group's fighters, said: "Nigeria has always been willing to dialogue with the insurgents.

"We are willing to carry that dialogue on any issue, including the girls kidnapped in Chibok, because certainly we are not going to say that [the abduction] is not an issue."

Nigeria's interior minister had previously dismissed a suggestion from Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau in a video released on Monday that the girls could be swapped for imprisoned militants.

But the military later said it would "explore all options" to end the crisis.

Girls identified

Boko Haram fighters kidnapped 276 schoolgirls from the remote north-eastern town of Chibok in Borno state on 14 April and 223 are still being held.

The group's latest video purported to show some 130 girls, in an undisclosed rural location, wearing Muslim dress and praying, and said they had all converted to Islam.

A special viewing of the footage was organised for the missing girls' parents.

"All the girls in that video were identified to be students of the Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok," Borno Governor Shettima said in Abuja.

Earlier, the leader of the Chibok community in the capital, Tsambido Hosea, said the video had stirred up conflicting emotions back home.

"I called Chibok and spoke with some of them [the parents]," he said at a protest march.

"Some are saying they are happy because they have seen their daughters. Some have their grief increased. So, there is a mixed reaction."