Cameroon Says Hundreds Boko Haram Fighters Surrendering After Abubakar Shekau’s Death
Voice of America
YAOUNDÉ - Authorities in Cameroon say there are seeing an increase in the number of Boko Haram militants surrendering at a disarmament center on the northern border with Nigeria. Officials say there have been hundreds of defections from the terrorist group since May, when Abubakar Shekau, leader of the Islamist group, was declared killed.
Cameroonian authorities said they are overwhelmed by the number of militants fleeing the extremist group Boko Haram. The National Committee for Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration, or the DDR, a center set up by the government, hosts about 750 former militants in Meri, a town on the northern border with Nigeria. Dieudonne Nkollo Zanga is one of the administrators of the DDR center in Meri. He said the center received more than 155 militants within the past seven days and a total of about 450 militants have arrived at the center since May. Zanga said the government of Cameroon has provided space in Meme, another northern town not far from Nigeria, for the construction of a center that can host 1,500 former Boko Haram fighters. He said funds to construct the DDR center are available and construction work will begin soon.A TV screen shows a file image of North Korea's rocket launch during a news program at a bus terminal in Seoul, South Korea, May 27, 2024. FILE - Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi speaks to reporters in Colombo, July 29, 2023. FILE - A TV screen shows a report of North Korea's spy satellite into orbit with its third launch attempt this year with an image of North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un during a news program at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, Nov. 22, 2023.
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