Nigeria: 800 Boko Haram Insurgents Offered Olive Branch By Army

The Nigerian Army has said 800 militants from the Islamist Boko Haram group who have surrendered and shown remorse will be rehabilitated and reintegrated into society.

According to the BBC, they would be profiled, documented and offered training in new skills at several camps currently being set up, the army spokesman said. Until now militants who surrendered were held in jail awaiting trial.

The army has been criticised in the past for its treatment of Boko Haram insurgents and suspects.

Last June, Amnesty International said that 7,000 young men and boys had died in military detention in Nigeria since 2011.

The programme, known as Operation Safe Corridor, hopes to persuade others who are yet to renounce their membership of the jihadi group to do so.

It is also an attempt by the army to show that human rights will be respected - a key promise made by President Muhammadu Buhari when he came to power last year.

The seven-year insurgency in north-eastern Nigeria has killed some 20,000 people and forced more than 2.6 million from their homes.

Army spokesman Brigadier General Rabe Abubakar said there would be two or three camps by the military - the locations of which would be made public when they are officially launched in the next few months.

"They will be very big and all facilities will be put in place... to rehabilitate them to become good members of society," he said.

Other government agencies would be involved in this new de-radicalisation programme, he added.

Asked if the repentant militants would be paid whilst they underwent training, Brig. Gen Abubakar said: "I believe the government will definitely ask the relevant agencies to do what is needful."

On questions about whether those who surrendered would be tried or given amnesty, he said that things needed to be taken "pace by pace".

"The most important thing for us is to have them rehabilitated. Since they have shown remorse and come on board, I think it is our duty to ensure that we help them to become very productive members of this great country," the army spokesman said.

As commendable as this arrangement is, there are many who doubt if communities are ready to wholly accept them.

It is likely that many victims of the cruelty of these former gunmen may find it difficult to forgive.

Meanwhile, a committee set up by Nigeria's defence minister is due to submit its report on how areas liberated from Boko Haram should be handed back to civilian authorities.

At the moment the military is solely in control of most of the towns and villages recaptured from Boko Haram.

The majority of those displaced by the conflict have yet to return to their homes.