Boko Haram is offering to free more than 200 young women and girls kidnapped from a boarding school in the town of Chibok in exchange for the release of militant leaders held by the Nigerian government, a human rights activist told The Associated Press Wednesday.

The activist said the extremist group’s current officer is limited to the girls from the school in northeastern Nigeria whose mass abduction in April 2014 ignited worldwide outrage and a campaign to “Bring Back Our Girls” that stretched to the White House.

The initiative to discuss a deal reopens an offer made last year to former President Goodluck Jonathan to release the 219 students in exchange for 16 Boko Haram detainees, the activist told The Associated Press. The man, who was involved in negotiations with Boko Haram last year and is close to current negotiators, spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to reporters on this sensitive issue.

Fred Eno, an apolitical Nigerian who has been at the negotiating table with the terror group for more than a year, told The Associated Press "another window of opportunity opened" in the last few days. However, he couldn’t elaborate more on the negotiations.

Eno said the latest slew of Boko Haram killings – some 350 people killed in the past nine days – is consistent with past ratcheting up of violence as the militants seek a stronger negotiating position.

Presidential adviser Femi Adesina said Saturday that Nigeria’s government “will not be averse” to talks with Boko Haram.

"Most wars, however furious or vicious, often end around the negotiation table," he said.

The 5-week-old administration of President Muhammadu Buhari offers a “clean slate” to bring the militants back to the negotiating table that had become poisoned by the different security agencies advising Jonathan, Eno said.

Two months of talks last year led Nigeria and Eno to travel in September to a northeastern town where the prisoner exchange was set to take place, only to be stymied by the Department for State Service intelligence agency, the activist said.

The number of Boko Haram suspects held by Nigeria is unkown.

The activist said the agency continues to hold suspects illegally because it doesn’t have enough evidence for conviction. Nigerian law requires charges be brought after 48 hours.

Thousands of suspects have died in custody, and some detainees wanted by Boko Haram may be among them. Amnesty International claims that 8,000 detainees have died in military custody – some have been shot, some have died from untreated injuries due to torture, and some have died from starvation and other harsh treatment.

In May, some 300 women, girls and children held captive by the terror group were rescued by Nigeria’s military, but none were from Chibok. It is believed that the militants view the Chibok girls as a last-resort bargaining chip.

In that infamous abduction, 274 mostly Christian girls preparing to write science exams were seized from the school by Islamic militants in the early hours of April 15, 2014. Dozens escaped on their own in the first few days, but 219 remain missing.

Boko Haram has not shown them since a May 2014 video in which its leader, Abubakar Shekau warned: "You won't see the girls again unless you release our brothers you have captured."

In the video, nearly 100 of the girls, who have been identified by their parents, were shown wearing Islamic hijab and reciting the Quran. One of them said they had converted to Islam.

International indignation at Nigeria's failure to rescue the girls was joined by U.S. first lady Michelle Obama. In a radio address in May 2014, she said she and President Barack Obama are "outraged and heartbroken" over the abduction.

Jonathan's government initially denied there had been any mass abduction and delays of a rescue that might have brought the girls home became a hallmark of his other failures. He steadfastly refused to meet with the Bring Back Our Girls campaigners, charging they were politicizing the issue.

President Buhari welcomed those campaigners at the presidential villa in Abija and pleaded "We only ask for your patience." He said "The delay and conflicting reaction by the former government and its agencies is very unfortunate."

“The rescue of our Chibok girls is the strongest statement that this government could make to show respect for the sanctity and dignity of every Nigerian life,” campaign leader OBy Ezekwesili said.

There has been speculation some of the girls could have been taken to nearby countries, radicalized and trained as Islamic fighters. At least three were reported to have died – one from dysentery, one from malaria and one from a snake bite.

Last year, Shekau said the girls were an "old story," and that he had married them off to his fighters.

Lawan Zanna, whose daughter is among the captives, said this week that 14 Chibok parents have died since the mass kidnapping, many from stress-related illnesses blamed on the ordeal.

Some of the Chibok girls who managed to escape have been rejected by their community and now live with family friends, tired of hearing taunts like "Boko Haram wives."

The assumption that all girls and women held by the group have been raped is a difficult stigma to overcome in Nigeria's highly religious and conservative society.

Shekau had threatened in 2013 to kidnap women and girls if Nigeria’s military didn’t release detained Boko haram wives and children. The government free them in May of that year as gesture of goodwill ahead of failed peace talks.

Boko Haram has kidnapped hundreds more — girls, boys, women and young men. Some have become sex slaves, while others are used as fighters, according to former captives.

Nigerian opinion on negotiating with the extremists is mixed. Some say the group's crimes are too heinous to be forgiven: The 6-year-old Islamic uprising has killed more than 13,000 people and forced about 1.5 million from their homes.

"A lot of people take a hard-line stance that you must never negotiate with a terrorist," said Sen. Chris Anyanwu. She called it a "very complex" issue, balancing the lives of more than 200 girls against the dangers of freeing extremists.

The militants last year seized a large swath of northeast Nigeria and declared an Islamic caliphate. Nigeria and its neighbors deployed a multinational army that forced them out of towns and villages this year, but the bloodshed has risen at a fierce rate since Buhari's May 29 inauguration amid pledges to crush the insurgency.

The Associated Press contributed to this report

Geneva (AFP) - More than four million Syrians have fled the civil war ravaging their country to become refugees in the surrounding region -- a million of them in the past 10 months alone, the United Nations said Thursday.

"This is the biggest refugee population from a single conflict in a generation," UN refugee chief Antonio Guterres said in a statement.

"It is a population that needs the support of the world but is instead living in dire conditions and sinking deeper into poverty," he said.

The UN refugee agency said a surge in new refugee arrivals in Turkey had pushed the total number of Syrian refugees in neighbouring countries to over 4,013,000 people.

Just over 10 months ago, at the end of August 2014, the number of registered Syrian refugees stood at three million, UNHCR said, adding that if Syrians continue fleeing their country at the same pace it expects the number to balloon to 4.27 million by the end of the year.

The current number of refugees is already by far the highest handled by UNHCR for a single conflict in nearly a quarter century, since the agency was assisting some 4.6 million Afghan refugees in 1992, a spokeswoman told AFP.

View gallery

The UNHCR said if Syrians continue fleeing their country at the same pace it expects the number to b …

More than 230,000 people have been killed in Syria since anti-government protests erupted in March 2011, precipitating a civil war pitting pro-regime forces, rebels and jihadist groups against each other.

In addition to the millions who have fled Syria, 7.6 million have been displaced inside the war-torn country, "many of them in difficult circumstances and in locations that are difficult to reach," UNHCR said.

Syrians are so desperate to escape the nightmare conditions in their country that they made up a third of the 137,000 people who flooded across the Mediterranean to Europe during the first half of 2015 -- many in rickety boats and at the mercy of human traffickers, UNHCR figures show.

- 'Desperation' -

"Worsening conditions are driving growing numbers towards Europe and further afield," Guterres said, but stressed that "the overwhelming majority remain in the region."

View gallery

Syrian refugees sit in their makeshift shelter near the Turkish border post of Akcakale, on June 17, …

Thursday's announcement came amid reports that Turkey -- already hosting some 1.8 million Syrian refugees -- is preparing a giant new refugee camp to house 55,000 people amid concerns that an anticipated major escalation of the conflict in the Syrian province of Aleppo could spark a growing exodus.

Another 1.17 million Syrian refugees have sought safety in neighbouring Lebanon, and now account for a quarter of inhabitants in that country.

Jordan meanwhile is hosting more than 629,000 Syrian refugees, Iraq counts nearly 250,000, Egypt has taken in nearly 132,500, and more than 24,000 others have sought refuge elsewhere in North Africa, the latest UNHCR figures showed.

In comparison, around 270,000 Syrians have sought asylum in Europe, UNHCR said.

The agency has estimated $5.5 billion is needed this year to help the Syrian refugees and the increasingly overwhelmed host communities in neighbouring countries, but warned it so far has received less than a quarter of that amount.

View gallery

The UNHCR has estimated $5.5 billion is needed this year to help the Syrian refugees and the increas …

"This means refugees face tough new cuts in food aid, and struggle to afford life-saving health services or send their children to school," it cautioned.

UNHCR said life for exiled Syrians was becoming increasingly difficult.

Around 86 percent of all refugees living outside of camps in Jordan living below the poverty line of $3.20 per day, and 55 percent of Syrian refugees in Lebanon are living in sub-standard shelters, it said.

With Syria's bloody conflict well into its fifth year and no end in sight, the agency said refugees across the region were losing hope of returning home.

As they become increasingly impoverished and desperate, more and more of them are engaging in "negative coping practices", including child labour, begging and child marriages, it warned.

Competition for employment, land, housing, water and energy is also placing significant strain on already vulnerable host communities, UNHCR said, urging donors to step up and help ease the pain.

"We cannot afford to let them and the communities hosting them slide further into desperation," Guterres said.

Associated Press Videos
Emotions High During SC Confederate Flag Debate

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — The South Carolina House approved a bill removing the Confederate flag from the Capitol grounds, a stunning reversal in a state that was the first to leave the Union in 1860 and raised the flag again at its Statehouse more than 50 years ago to protest the civil rights movement.

The move early Thursday came after more than 13 hours of passionate and contentious debate, and just weeks after the fatal shootings of nine black church members, including a state senator, at a Bible study in Charleston.

"South Carolina can remove the stain from our lives," said 64-year-old Rep. Joe Neal, a black Democrat first elected in 1992. "I never thought in my lifetime I would see this."

The House easily approved the Senate bill by a two-thirds margin (94-20), and the bill now goes to Republican Gov. Nikki Haley's desk. She supports the measure, which calls for the banner to come down within 24 hours of her signature.

"It is a new day in South Carolina, a day we can all be proud of, a day that truly brings us all together as we continue to heal, as one people and one state," Haley said in a statement.

Her office said she will sign the bill quickly, but didn't give a specific timeframe.

View gallery

A woman shows her support for the Confederate battle flag as a vehicle passes the South Carolina sta …

Haley herself reversed her position on the flag, saying the pain, grief and grace of the families of the victims in the shooting at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal church caused her to realize that while some conservative whites saw the Confederate flag as a symbol of pride in their Southern ancestors, most of the blacks who make up a third of the state's population see it as a dark reminder of a racist past.

The man charged in the shooting, Dylann Roof, brought that view home, telling survivors of the attack that he killed blacks because they were raping white women and taking over the country, according to witnesses. Roof also reportedly took photographs of himself holding the Confederate flag.

Earlier Wednesday, a group of Republicans had mounted opposition to immediately removing the flag, but at each turn, they were beaten back by a slightly larger, bipartisan group of legislators who believed there must be no delay.

As House members deliberated well into the night, there were tears of anger and shared memories of Civil War ancestors. Black Democrats, frustrated at being asked to show grace to Civil War soldiers as the debate wore on, warned the state was embarrassing itself.

Changing the Senate bill could have meant weeks or even months to remove the flag, perhaps blunting momentum that has grown since the church massacre.

View gallery

State Rep. John King, right, D-York, hugs a woman after the House approved a bill removing the Confe …

Republican Rep. Jenny Horne reminded her colleagues she was a descendent of Confederate President Jefferson Davis, and scolded fellow members of her party for stalling the debate with dozens of amendments.

She cried as she remembered the funeral of her slain colleague state Sen. Clementa Pinckney, the pastor of Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal church, who was gunned down as his wife and daughter locked themselves in an office.

"For the widow of Sen. Pinckney and his two young daughters, that would be adding insult to injury and I will not be a part of it!" she screamed into a microphone.

She said later during a break she didn't intend to speak but got frustrated with fellow Republicans.

Opponents of removing the flag talked about grandparents who passed down family treasures and lamented that the flag had been "hijacked" or "abducted" by racists.

View gallery

Protesters on both sides of a debate over removing the Confederate battle flag from the grounds on t …

Rep. Mike Pitts, who remembered playing with a Confederate ancestor's cavalry sword while growing up, said for him the flag is a reminder of how dirt-poor Southern farmers fought Yankees not because they hated blacks or supported slavery, but because their land was being invaded.

Those soldiers should be respected just as soldiers who fought in the Middle East or Afghanistan, he said, recalling his own military service. Pitts then turned to a lawmaker he called a dear friend, recalling how his black colleague nearly died in Vietnam.

"I'm willing to move that flag at some point if it causes a twinge in the hearts of my friends," Pitts said. "But I'll ask for something in return."

House Minority Leader Todd Rutherford said Democrats were united behind the Senate bill, which sends the flag to the state's Confederate Relic Room — near the resting place for the rebel flag that flew over the Statehouse dome until it was taken down in 2000.

Democrats didn't want any new flag going up because it "will be the new vestige of racism," Rutherford said.

View gallery

Rep. Cezar McKnight, D-Williamsburg, right, hugs an unidentified man after the House approved a bill …

After a break around 8 p.m., Rutherford said Democrats were willing to let the other side make their points, but had grown tired. He said while much had been said about Confederate ancestors, "what we haven't heard is talk about nine people slaughtered in a church."

Democrats then finally began debating, saying they were angry with Republicans asking for grace for people who want to remember their Southern ancestors. Neal told of his ancestors, four brothers who were bought by slave owners with the last name Neal.

"The whole world is asking, is South Carolina really going to change, or will it hold to an ugly tradition of prejudice and discrimination and hide behind heritage as an excuse for it," Neal said.

Other Democrats suggested any delay would let Ku Klux Klan members planning a rally July 18 a chance to dance around the Confederate flag.

"You don't have to listen to me. But there are a whole lot of people outside this chamber watching," Rep. Gilda Cobb-Hunter said.

View gallery

Rep. Tommy Pope, R-York, rubs his eyes as the House debates a Senate bill calling for the Confederat …

The debate in the South Carolina House began less than a day after the U.S. House voted to ban the display of Confederate flags at historic federal cemeteries in the Deep South.

In Washington, the vote followed a brief debate on a measure funding the National Park Service, which maintains 14 national cemeteries, most of which contain graves of Civil War soldiers.

The proposal by California Democrat Jared Huffman would block the Park Service from allowing private groups to decorate the graves of Southern soldiers with Confederate flags in states that commemorate Confederate Memorial Day. The cemeteries affected are the Andersonville and Vicksburg cemeteries in Georgia and Mississippi.

Also Wednesday, state police said they were investigating an unspecified number of threats against South Carolina lawmakers debating the flag. Police Chief Mark Keel said lawmakers on both sides of the issue had been threatened, but he did not specify which ones.

___

Associated Press writer Meg Kinnard contributed to this report.

___

Follow Jeffrey Collins on Twitter at https://twitter.com/JSCollinsAP .