Nigeria says children detained in connection with insurgency

LAGOS (AFP) - Nigerian authorities have detained children in connection with the Islamist insurgency they are battling, but the government plans to release them under a peace gesture announced this week, a statement said Thursday.

The statement from an adviser to President Goodluck Jonathan comes after widespread allegations of Nigerian authorities carrying out indiscriminate arrests, unlawful detentions and extra-judicial executions in the fight against Islamist extremists over the last several years.

It was issued because the government said it wanted to further clarify a defence ministry statement this week promising to release certain suspects held in connection with "terrorism," including all women. The military had made no mention of children.

"The order for the release of the detainees will be executed in phases," the statement from Jonathan adviser Doyin Okupe said.

"Concerning the first batch, the emphasis is on women and children who have been in detention on suspicion of involvement and/or connection with insurgency in some parts of the country."

Okupe did not respond to phone calls on Thursday for further details.

Islamist extremist group Boko Haram has previously demanded the release of women and children prisoners, though neither the defence nor government statement made any mention of the demand.

Suspected Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau claimed in a recent video that the group was holding women and children hostage in retaliation for wives and children of its members detained by the military.

The promise to release some of those detained comes as the military carries out an offensive in Nigeria's northeast launched on May 15 seeking to end a violent insurgency underway since 2009.

A state of emergency has been declared in three northeastern states hard hit by the violence, and phone service has been out since the weekend in certain areas.

Rights activists have long criticised Nigeria's military over its response to the insurgency, accusing it of major abuses.

The conflict is estimated to have cost 3,600 lives since 2009, including killings by the security services.

London-based rights group Amnesty International on Thursday issued a statement urging Nigerian authorities not to use the recent emergency declaration to commit abuses.

"In recent weeks, residents of Borno state in northern Nigeria have told Amnesty International that mass arrests in the state capital Maiduguri have increased," it said, referring to the city where Boko Haram has been based.

"Individuals in military vehicles have been depositing bodies on an almost daily basis at mortuaries in the town. The government does not appear to carry out any investigation into these deaths, and has not released any information pertaining to those deceased and deposited at the mortuaries."

Shehu Sani, a prominent rights activist based in the northern Nigerian city of Kaduna who has sought to arrange peace talks, said he did not think the planned release of detainees would improve the situation.

He alleged that some detainees have been held for several years and questioned whether those being released would simply be replaced with new prisoners.

"It doesn't make sense if you are releasing a few people who you have held for three to four years while you are embarking on massive arrests of more," he said.

"So it is more or less replacing those you are releasing with more you are arresting."