from ROSY SADOU in Yaoundé, Cameroon
YAOUNDE, (CAJ News) – REPENTANT Boko Haram terrorists have apologised for the atrocities committed in northeast Nigeria and neighbouring countries.
The apology came at a meeting with the commander of military operations deployed to fight the insurgency by the Islamist group in the region.
A spokesperson of the group that has surrendered to the military (name withheld), expressed regret over the killings and kidnappings committed by Boko Haram.
He claimed the commanders of the rebel group had misled them to commit the atrocities.
The repentant terror leader said Boko Haram generals had also dissuaded them from surrendering.
“Our commanders told us that we will be killed if we surrender but here we are being treated like human beings,” he said.
Major General Ibrahim Manu Yusuf, Commander of the Multinational Joint Task Force, met the defecting Boko Haram members in northern Cameroon as part of the Operation Safe Corridor.
The operation aims to disarm, demobilise and reintegrate repentant Boko Haram members.
It is a major exercise towards ending the brutality that has left over 30 000 people dead and three million others displaced in Nigeria and a smaller number in neighbouring countries comprising Cameroon, Chad and Niger.
Yusuf urged the former members of the terror group to encourage their former colleagues to surrender.
He assured them of humane treatment by authorities.
“The entire Boko Haram idea is misplaced and orchestrated by a few misguided individuals who desire to inflict suffering on millions of people in the Lake Chad Basin, for their own selfish and personal interests,” Yusuf said.
Boko Haram has perpetrated attacks since 2009 to establish an Islamic state northeast of Nigeria.
– CAJ News