WUNRN
Sydney Australia Morning Herald
NIGERIA - AUSTRALIAN CIVILIAN
PEACEMAKER TRIED TO RESCUE NIGERIA ABDUCTED SCHOOLGIRLS FROM BOKO HARAM -
PARTIAL SUCCESS
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Stephen Davis last year with members of the terror
group JAS, a forerunner to Boko Haram.
Earlier this month, Australian counter
terrorism officials conducted separate interviews with Stephen Davis and his
wife. They wanted to know what Dr Davis had been doing in
Dr Davis, a
self-described "amateur peacemaker" from
"I was very
confident when I left because I had spoken with some of the commanders and
organised the release and handover of some of the girls," he said.
"Otherwise I wouldn't have gone."
The
63-year-old, who has a doctorate in political geography, was a mining
consultant to global resources company WMC and to petroleum giant Shell.
It was at Shell in
the mid 2000s that he began peace negotiations with rebels in the Niger Delta.
He then served as an advisor to two Nigerian presidents, developing links with
terror cells as he negotiated on behalf of the government.
A devout Christian,
he moved to
But when Dr Davis
heard of the schoolgirl kidnapping in the village of Chibok, he
decided to act.
He began remote
negotiations with elements of Boko Haram. In
But each of the three
attempted transfers were thwarted by powerful political forces looking to
undermine the ruling party, Dr Davis said in a telephone interview.
"They were
sabotaged each one of them in the end but we had commanders willing to do
it."
The only success in his mission came after he received
a phone call from a man who had been kidnapped by Boko Haram. They began
orchestrating an escape for a small number of girls, with four eventually
managing to cross from a camp on the
"They're pretty heroic these young girls, pretty
amazing," he said. "What they went through is staggering."
The changing face of
Nigerian terrorism
Dr Davis said Boko
Haram had become more hardline since a peace deal with the government collapsed
last year
He accused members of
"Some of the
guys are uncontrolled in that they are just beheading people before they even
know who the person is," he said.
"Or they go into
a village and they'll disembowel a pregnant woman and take the live foetus for
a ritual."
Dr Davis said the
situation in
"When Boko Haram
links up with ISIL - and there is interaction between the two - and with
[terrorist group] al-Shabbab, that triangle is going to be the new home of
terrorism like the world has not seen," he said.
"The guys before
- there was no kidnapping, no rape. They wouldn't kidnap women or children,
because that was contrary to the Koran. Now these guys will do anything, they
are a totally different breed."
Dr Davis stressed the
importance of negotiating with terrorists, no matter their crimes.
"You've got to
find common ground, you simply have to," he said.
"There is so
much ground you can shift, if you've got time, and you can sit down again and
again and again."
But he doubted
another deal involving the release of kidnapped girls could be negotiated at
the moment, "because things have tightened up so much".
"If it leaked
out that they were willing to negotiate the releases of the girls or to talk of
a peace deal, then other commanders would execute them," he said.