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Reports of Boko Haram Militants Laying Down Arms in Cameroon

Cameroonian authorities have said that there is an increase in the number of Boko Haram militants surrendering at a disarmament centre on the northern border with Nigeria. There has reportedly been hundreds of defections since May 2021, when Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau, was declared killed. The National Committee for Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration, a centre set up by the Cameroon government, hosts about 750 former militants in Meri, a town on the northern border with Nigeria.

In a May 2021 video, Shekau's presumed successor Bakura Modu, confirmed that Shekau was killed by rival jihadist groups in the Sambisa Forest in April 2021. Although founded in 2002, Boko Haram gained more prominence after attacks against authorities in northeastern Nigeria in 2009. In 2014 it spread its reach into neighbouring Cameroon, Chad and Niger. Over 30,000 people been killed and two million have been displaced due to conflict.

InFocus

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(file photo).

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