Cameroon Says Numbers of Defecting Boko Haram Members Continue to Increase 

YAOUNDE - Cameroon has turned public buildings on its northern border with Nigeria into temporary housing for former Boko Haram militants. Hundreds of Boko Haram members have been defecting from the Islamist group, including more than two hundred on Sunday. 

Cameroon says its center for Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration, or DDR, in Meri, a northern town on the border with Nigeria, is now home to about 1,500 former Boko Haram militants. Three weeks ago, the center had about 750 former militants.  DDR officials in Meri said Tuesday most of the 237 former jihadist members who arrived this week included women and children. One hundred are former Boko Haram fighters, all looking tired, unkempt and hungry, officials said.  Thirty-three-year-old Alidou Faizar says he defected from a Boko Haram Camp in the Sambisa Forest located on the Cameroon/Nigeria border.