Now that Nigeria is making headway against Boko Haram, it faces a new
challenge created by terrorists who voluntarily surrender their weapons.
How can the country reintegrate the former fighters into society and
ensure they won’t become a future security threat?
The current solution involves a rehabilitation camp established by the
Nigerian military to repatriate surrendered Boko Haram fighters and
encourage others to abandon the insurgency.
Operation Safe Corridor will take the terrorists through various
vocational training sessions to help them become productive citizens,
said Defense Ministry spokesman Rabe Abubakar. He urged other fighters
still on the loose to surrender and benefit from the program.
“The final onslaught against the remnant group of the terrorists would
continue unabated and would not relent until the power of evil forces in
the northeast is completely neutralized,” Abubakar warned in a written
statement.
In recent months, Nigeria’s military said several fighters surrendered
at its bases, emaciated and begging for food, after it blocked food
supply routes to the terrorists’ camps.
Nigeria’s previous administration, led by President Goodluck Jonathan,
set up de-radicalization programs in at least two prisons. But local
authorities have not said whether those programs have continued, and
analysts note their efficacy is unproven.
“It was about some religious leaders engaging in dialogue with Boko
Haram insurgents, trying to have another religious narrative,” said
William Assanvo, a terrorism expert with the Institute for Security
Studies in Dakar, Senegal. “We don’t know how effective and efficient
this program has been so far.”
Boko Haram’s leaders scoff at calls to surrender. In a video
circulating around social media last week, nine masked men holding
AK-47s in an unknown location said the insurgent group offers no truce
or negotiations. Local forces have seized a majority of the territory
once held by Boko Haram, but the terror group continues to launch
attacks.
“Boko Haram’s capability to fight has significantly been affected and
it’s not in a position to engage in confrontation, but I think Boko
Haram still presents a threat,” Assanvo said.
In addition to working with surrendered militants, the Nigerian
government is struggling to process thousands of former Boko Haram
captives. At least 11,595 civilians have been rescued across the region
during the past six weeks by multinational troops, according to the
Nigerian army. The troops temporarily resettled many of the freed women
and children in camps for internally displaced persons.
“The troops in the course of these clearance operations, would continue
to place high premium on respect for human right and dignity, hence the
rescue operations,” army spokesman Sani Usman said in a statement.
Courtesy: WORLD News Service
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