Tens of thousands of voluntary or forced members of Boko Haram and the Islamic State in West Africa have surrendered over the past 10 years. Nigeria is drawing on transitional justice β a set of mechanisms used to confront legacies of mass violence in the interest of accountability, reconciliation and lasting peace β to help former fighters return to their communities and live alongside victims of the jihadist groups.
A tiny black dot moves across the sky over Bama, in north-eastern Nigeria. The roar of an engine grows louder, drowning out all other sounds in this town some 50 kilometres from Maiduguri, the capital of Borno State.
Kachalla, who is building a wooden door frame, pauses his hammering. "It's a helicopter," sighs the carpenter.
"In the Sambisa Forest, as soon as our leaders heard a helicopter flying overhead, they thought the army was watching them from the air. So it was every man for himself, we hid under the trees until the aircraft disappeared from view."
Kachalla looks up at the sky and watches the helicopter recede into the distance, then resumes his work.
In 2020, this 30-something father left the ranks of Boko Haram. "I served as a soldier. At that time, we had no choice, we were forced to work for them. Otherwise, it was death if we refused to obey."
Kachalla joined the Association of the People of the Sunnah for Preaching and Jihad β the official name of Boko Haram, which was the name given to the group by local people in north-eastern Nigeria β in 2014.
He confesses to having committed acts of torture and bloody crimes within various factions, following orders including from the leader of Boko Haram, Abubakar Shekau, who was killed in 2021.
"I also did it of my own free will," Kachalla admits, "because we were taught that it was the right thing to do. And our leaders kept telling us that if we died, we would go to paradise."
Today, Kachalla expresses his regrets only in private. He has resettled in Bama with his partner Bintugana, a former Boko Haram captive whom he "married" in the Sambisa Forest, and their two children β who were born in the Sambisa "sanctuary" led by Shekau.
Bintugana says Kachalla's carpentry skills have helped them build relationships in Bama. Despite knowing the couple's history, customers come to his workshop without fear.
Nevertheless, she believes their immediate neighbours still view them with contempt.
"We hear a lot of insults whispered by people, but it doesn't bother us because they can't physically fight us. At least our families don't reject us. That's why we don't want to go back to Sambisa," she explains.
In 2016, the Nigerian government launched Operation Safe Corridor to give members of Boko Haram and the Islamic State's West Africa Province (ISWAP β a breakaway faction aligned with the Islamic State group) the opportunity to disassociate themselves from these groups and reintegrate into society.
The initiative is supported by the Nigerian army and the country's security and intelligence agencies. At the same time, the state of Borno, the epicentre of the armed conflict, has also implemented a local approach: the Borno Model. Both have grown steadily alongside the mass defections from the Sambisa Forest, notably after the death of Shekau.
The Safe Corridor and Borno Model are two of the main formal mechanisms of transitional justice in the country. They are open to all repentant individuals β men, women and children β in north-eastern Nigeria.
"When we fled Boko Haram, we imagined the worst," recalls Kachalla. "Then I simply surrendered with my weapon. I was not mistreated. My family and I were officially registered."
Mustapha Ali has taken in dozens of former combatants with similar profiles to Kachalla over the past few years. A theology expert, he teaches in the Department of Islamic Studies at the University of Maiduguri.
He is also one of the pillars of the Imam Malik Centre, an educational institution for children from nursery to high-school age in the capital of Borno State, founded in the mid-1990s.
"This place is not just a place to learn about Islam," says Ali. "Our director, Sheikh Abubakar Kyari, was the first at the time to confront Mohammed Yusuf [the founder of Boko Haram] and his misinterpretations of the verses of the Koran that led to this extremist ideology."
Having witnessed the devastation wrought by Boko Haram in the Lake Chad basin, Ali also draws on his religious knowledge as an independent consultant for the El-Amin Islamic Foundation, a Nigerian NGO involved in deradicalisation programmes.
"I work with a maximum of 20 repentant individuals," he explains. "We focus on specific verses from the Koran. My team of facilitators and I meet with them at least 15 times. This is essential, because extremist ideology is deeply rooted in the minds of the adults and children we work with."
To start the process of reintegrating, Bintugana and Kachalla were transferred to a rehabilitation centre in Maiduguri. Bintugana was able to see her children while following a programme more focused on professional skills.
But for Kachalla and the other former combatants he was grouped with, their programme meant six months of living without any contact with the outside world.
"Every day we were given advice: how to live in peace with others, how to endure good and bad situations, how to be patient in all circumstances," he recalls.
Chita Nagarajan is an independent analyst of armed conflicts. For five years, she headed the Centre for Civilians in Conflict in north-eastern Nigeria. The organisation has carried out numerous mediations between communities and security forces, based on human rights principles.
"Reintegration, reconciliation and healing are not one-off events," she says. "They are long-term processes in which everyone needs support and assistance β the direct victims of violence, but also the indirect victims and even the perpetrators of that violence."
Since 2021, Bintugana and Kachalla have been learning how to live as a family again in Bama, surrounded by their loved ones. But theirs is a fragile peace, with the armed conflict that began in the Lake Chad basin in 2009 far from over.
This article has been adapted from a report in French by RFI's special correspondent in northern Nigeria, MoΓ―se Gomis.