1,000 Boko Haram Militants Surrender, Two Chibok Girls Walk Free

A lot more than one,000 Boko Haram associates and their hostages surrendered to the Nigerian govt, like two substantial-university pupils who ended up kidnapped seven a long time in the past from the town of Chibok, in what safety officials and mediators named a new chapter in Nigeria’s decadelong conflict.

Ruth Pogu and Hassan Adamu, who ended up kidnapped in 2014 alongside with 274 other schoolgirls in what prompted the global #BringBackOurGirls campaign, emerged from the jihadist group’s Sambisa forest hideout in the latest days, alongside gentlemen who named them selves their “husbands” and small children born in captivity. The fighters surrendered amid a surge in battling concerning Boko Haram and its rival, Islamic State West Africa Province. One more woman, taken very last year from Chibok, was with them.

Now in the custody of Nigeria’s intelligence agency, the women ended up being debriefed. Ms. Pogu was taken to the regional money Maiduguri on Sunday and briefly allowed to see her family members.

The progress seems to mark a new chapter in a war that has still left extra than 35,000 folks useless and uprooted extra than two million. In May well, Boko Haram’s longtime leader, Abubakar Shekau, died immediately after a confrontation with Iswap. Since then, his motion has lost battles and territory to Iswap and has suffered mass defections when Nigeria’s govt has offered a “safe corridor” to jihadist associates and their households who surrender. Almost all of the Chibok pupils however living in captivity are with Boko Haram, mentioned mediators, who hope the group’s disarray can aid them negotiate the launch of extra hostages.

“Most are quitting…thousands of fighters are coming out of the bush,” mentioned a person mediator closely concerned, who described initiatives to absolutely free additional Chibok pupils. A senior Nigerian safety official doing the job on the harmless-corridor coverage mentioned the govt was shocked by the variety of folks surrendering and was getting ready an expanded camp to method the returnees: “There could be extra of the Chibok ladies between them.”