Written question asked by Baroness Brown of Silvertown (Labour) on Tuesday, 17 May 2022, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 19 May 2022. It was answered by Vicky Ford (Conservative) on Wednesday, 25 May 2022 on behalf of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.

Lake Chad Basin: Armed Conflict

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent estimate she has made of the number of people classified as (a) militants and (b) families of militants who have surrendered to the Multinational Joint Task Force in the Lake Chad region in the last three months; and what engagement she has had with the Multinational Joint Task Force on the (i) criteria they are using for the classification of militants and families of militants and (ii) the tactics used for engagement and detention of those classified as militants or families of militants.

Answer: Since August 2021, the Nigerian Defence Headquarters have recorded that more than 53,262 individuals, who are either ex-associates of Violent Extremist Organisations (VEOs), families of ex-associates, or civilians resident in areas of VEO control, have handed themselves in to civil and military authorities in North East Nigeria and Far North Cameroon. The majority of these surrendered either to civilian authorities or to Nigerian and Cameroonian Security Forces, rather than the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF). The Nigerian authorities have informed us that 2701 individuals have been assessed as potential active combatants. Those that have handed themselves over to the Nigerian authorities are being held in three camps in Borno State; Hajj Camp, Bulumkutu and Shokari Transitional Centres. We regularly engage the Borno State Government on the provision of security and services to these camps. Those that surrendered in Cameroon have either been transferred to Nigeria (Nigerian Nationals) or are being held at a centre in Meri (Cameroonian Nationals). We have also engaged the Cameroonian security services on detention conditions.

Secondary information