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Nigerian President Decides To Release Women Of Boko Haram From Custody

Nigerian President Decides To Release Women Of Boko Haram From Custody

In a major move, Nigeria President Goodluck Jonathan has ordered the Nigerian Military to release all women and children of Boko Haram militants from detention. This came  as Nigeria’s Senate approved the president’s declaration of state of emergency in the Nigerian states of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa.

The Defense Ministry issued a statement that  the decision to set the women held in connection with “terrorist activity free was aimed at bolstering peace efforts in Nigeria.”

The militant Islamist group has set the release of women and children as a condition for talks with the government. The battle between the government and the militant Islamist group Boko Haram has been deadly–more than 2,000 people have died in the conflict in Nigeria since Boko Haram launched its insurgency in 2009 to create an Islamic state, reports The BBC.

Founded in 2001, Boko Haram is an Islamist movement which strongly opposes man-made laws and Westernization.

As the fighting heats up, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has publicly urged the Nigerian army to show restraint and not violate human rights as it pursues the militants.

There have been allegation of human rights abuses. In fact, last November, Amnesty International accused Nigeria’s security forces of carrying out widespread abuses in their campaign against Boko Haram, including extra-judicial killings, enforced disappearances and torture, states The BBC.