KANO, Nigeria: Authorities in Nigeria’s northwestern Katsina state struck a peace deal at the weekend with criminal gangs to try to end years of violence, a government official said Monday.
Katsina is one of several states in northwestern and central Nigeria terrorized by criminal gangs that the locals refer to as bandits.
The gangs raid villages, kill and abduct residents as well as torch homes after looting them.
The gangs maintain camps in a huge forest straddling Zamfara, Katsina, Kaduna states in the northwest region and Niger state in the country’s central zone and have carried out mass kidnappings of students from schools in recent years.
On Saturday, a dozen bandit kingpins met with local officials and community leaders in the town of Danmusa, where they renounced violence and pledged to turn a new leaf, Nasiru Mu’azu, Katsina state internal commissioner said.
“There was a peace meeting between 12 bandit leaders and the local community leaders in Danmusa where the bandits renounced their criminal activities and committed to peace,” Mu’azu said.
The bandits initiated the meeting, he said. “The community welcomed the overtures and agreed to a peace deal as long as the bandits are genuinely interested in peace,” he said.
As a mark of goodwill, the bandits surrendered weapons and released 17 hostages, with the promise to free more people they were holding.
Authorities in Katsina had earlier ruled out peace deals after the criminal gangs reneged on peace negotiations and returned to crime.
With no ideological leaning, the bandits are motivated by financial gains but their increasing alliance with jihadists from the northeast has been raising concern among authorities and security analysts.
In 2023, Katsina state governor Dikko Umar Radda established Katsina Community Watch Corps, comprising around 2,000 vigilantes to assist the military and police in fighting the bandits.
“We have been fighting the bandits for the past two years and the state governor has reiterated he will not negotiate from a position of weakness,” Mu’azu said.
“But since they on their own came forward and extended the olive branch, we have to give them that opportunity.”
In November last year, neighboring Kaduna state, which has rejected negotiation with bandits, signed a peace accord with the criminal gangs terrorizing Birnin-Gwari district.
Nigerian state signs peace pact with criminal gangs: official
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Nigerian state signs peace pact with criminal gangs: official
- Dozen bandit kingpins met with local officials to renounce violence. With no ideological leaning, the bandits are motivated by financial gains
- As a mark of goodwill, the bandits surrendered weapons and released 17 hostages, with the promise to free more people they were holding
What to know about the search for the Brown University shooting suspect
- The video from more than hour before the attack shows the suspect running at times in quiet residential streets near campus
PROVIDENCE, R.I.: With the Brown University shooter still on the loose Tuesday, authorities released new video of a suspect and police fanned out to Providence schools to reassure parents, kids and teachers as investigators pushed for new evidence that might help them crack the case.
Here’s a look at what to know about the attack and the search:
Search on after new video and description of suspect
Authorities released a video timeline and a slightly clearer image of the man suspected in Saturday’s attack in an engineering building classroom, where two students were killed and nine were wounded. The video from more than hour before the attack shows the suspect running at times in quiet residential streets near campus.
In videos previously made public, the suspect’s face was masked or turned away and authorities were only able to give a vague description of him as having a stocky build and about 5 feet, 8 inches (173 centimeters) tall.
The gunman fired more than 40 rounds from a 9 mm handgun, a law enforcement official told The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to discuss the investigation publicly.
Police have asked the public for tips, and said they had received about 200 by Tuesday. Col. Oscar Perez, the Providence police chief, asked the public Tuesday to look at their camera systems in the area where the person was walking to review any footage that goes back a week.
Authorities on Sunday released a different person of interest after determining he wasn’t behind the attack, which happened in a first-floor classroom where students were cramming for an exam. Providence police spokeswoman Kristy dosReis said the man’s detention didn’t affect the ongoing investigation.
Police fan out to local schools
Tensions remain high in Providence. Ten state troopers were assigned to support the local police sent to beef up security at schools, district Superintendent Javier Montañez said. The district said it canceled after-school activities, sporting events and field trips this week “out of an abundance of caution.”
The attack and the shooter’s escape also have raised questions about campus security, including a lack of security cameras, and led to calls for better locks on campus doors. But some said what they called the real issue needs to be addressed.
“The issue isn’t the doors, it’s the guns,” said Zoe Kass, a senior who fled the engineering building Saturday.
Authorities have said that one reason they lacked video of the shooter was because Brown’s older engineering building doesn’t have many cameras.
University defends response
Brown President Christina Paxson defended the university’s response, saying it was deeply committed to the safety, security and well-being of its students. She also said the campus is equipped with 1,200 cameras.
“I have been deeply saddened by people questioning that,” she said Tuesday. “As time goes on, there is a natural instinct to assign responsibility for tragic events like this. Anxiety here is very natural, but the shooter is responsible.”
Paxson said the university has two security systems. One system is activated at a time of emergency and sent out text messages, phone calls and emails that, in this shooting, reached 20,000 individuals. The other system features three sirens across campus, but Paxson said that would not be activated in an active shooter situation.
“Those get activated when there is a broad scale emergency, and we want people to rush into buildings,” she said. “In the case of an active shooter, activating that system could have caused people to rush into Barus and Holley.”
When pressed by a reporter who noted the university website says the sirens can be used when there is an active shooter, Paxson reaffirmed she didn’t think it would be used in that situation.
“It depends on the circumstances and where the active shooter would be but you don’t want to ever get people rushing into buildings that might be the site of an active shooter,” she said.
Details about the victims emerge
Two of the wounded students had been released from the hospital as of Tuesday, Brown spokeswoman Amanda McGregor said. Of the seven others, one remained in critical condition, five were in critical but stable condition and one was in stable condition, Providence Mayor Brett Smiley said.
One of the wounded, 18-year-old freshman Spencer Yang of New York City, told the New York Times and the Brown Daily Herald there was a scramble after the gunman entered the room. Yang said he wound up on the ground and was shot in the leg.
The students who died were MukhammadAziz Umurzokov, an 18-year-old freshman from Brandermill, Virginia, and Ella Cook, a 19-year-old sophomore from a suburb of Birmingham, Alabama.
Jacob Spears, 18, a freshman from Evans, Georgia, was shot in the stomach, “but through sheer adrenaline and courage, he managed to run outside, where he was aided by others,” according to a GoFundMe site organized for him.
Durham Academy, a private K-12 school in Durham, North Carolina, confirmed that a recent graduate, Kendall Turner, was wounded.
