[Mhiz Rebecca]

Niamey - At least 31 Boko Haram fighters have surrendered to
authorities in Niger, the West African country's interior minister
Bazoum Mohamed announced on Tuesday.
Boko Haram's seven-year insurgency began in Maiduguri, northeast
Nigeria but has since spread beyond its borders to Chad, Cameroon
and Niger.
The 31 fighters gave up their arms in Diffa, a southeast region,
Mohamed said on Twitter, the first time Niger authorities have
reported such surrenders.
Boko Haram has been carrying out murderous attacks in Niger since
February 2015.
"They came one by one and are currently held in a secure centre," a
security source based in Diffa told AFP, adding that they would
return to their families after undergoing a "de-radicalisation"
programme.
In January 2015, a senior official in Diffa, said many young people
were "increasingly attracted by the offers of Boko Haram", citing
sums of up to $520 per month.
Niger, Chad and Nigeria launched simultaneous "sweep operations"
against Boko Haram strongholds in July.
In October, the government in Niamey declared the "operations had
given decisive results in liberating several localities formerly occupied
by Boko Haram."