Deadly Boko Haram fighters who have wrecked havoc and killed many innocent citizens have surrendered in Niger.
Boko Haram members (File Photo)
Dozens of Boko Haram fighters have given themselves up to
authorities in southern Niger, the interior minister said, days after
the Islamist group suffered key losses over the border in Nigeria.
"Thirty-one young people from Diffa, who were enrolled a few years ago in Boko Haram, decided to surrender," minister Mohamed Bazoum wrote on Twitter on Tuesday, above pictures of him touring the area near Nigeria's northeast border.
The fighters arrived in the remote desert town of Diffa in groups and were being held by local authorities.
"I learnt that the first who surrendered were not arrested, and I surrendered," a former Boko Haram combatant told national television.
"We expect a pardon from the government so that we can
participate in the development of the country and help us get rid of the
trauma."
In June, tens of thousands of people fled Diffa as Boko Haram swept
the region. Five Niger soldiers were killed by the militants near Diffa
in September.
In a statement carried later on national television, Bazoum said
the government would welcome the former fighters "with open arms",
adding: "All those who have parents who are with Boko Haram can tell
them to return. Boko Haram is now weak."
Boko Haram has killed 15,000 people and displaced more than 2
million during a seven-year insurgency aimed at creating an Islamic
state in Nigeria. In recent years its attacks have spilled into
neighbouring Niger, Cameroon and Chad.
Hundreds of Boko Haram fighters surrendered in Chad in October and November as the group ceded territory.
The group controlled an area about the size of Belgium in early
2015 but has since been pushed back by international forces including
troops from Niger. Nigeria's army captured its last enclave in the vast
Sambisa forest on Friday, President Muhammadu Buhari said on Saturday.
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