Chad has pulled out 1, 200 troops fighting Boko Haram in Nigeria.
None of the Chadian troops remain in Nigeria ending their mission in the country. They were withdrawn on Friday
“It’s our troops who went to aid Nigerian soldiers months ago returning home. They have finished their mission,” the Chadian army spokesman Colonel Azem Bermandoa told AFP.
“Those who have come back will return to their sector at Lake Chad,” Bermandoa said.
However, Chad’s general chief of staff General Tahir Erda Tahiro said that if countries in the region which have contributed to a multinational anti-jihadist force were in agreement, more troops will likely be sent in.
“If the states around Lake Chad agree on a new mission there will surely be another contingent redeployed on the ground,” Tahiro told AFP.
There are indications that the troops pulled out at the end of the duration of the Multi-National Joint Task Force (MNJTF) against Boko Haram comprising Lake Chad basin (region bordering Niger, Chad, Nigeria and Cameroon). The operation was launched July, 2016 to end December 2019.
A Boko Haram faction aligned with Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) jihadists is highly active around Lake Chad where the group has training bases on the Niger border and regularly carries out raids on military bases and regional security forces.
Last month saw 14 people killed with 13 more listed as missing after an attack on a fishing village in western Chad.
Countries in the region have banded together to fight Boko Haram and ISWAP with support from civilian defense committees leading to Chad contributing 1,200 troops.
Those troops have now pulled back across the border to be “deployed in the Lake Chad region to strengthen security along the border,” a senior local official told AFP.
Cameroon says it is battling an upsurge in Boko Haram attacks and, according to an Amnesty International report published last month 275 people, including 225 civilians, were killed there last year.
The first attack on Michika, Adamawa State by Boko Haram in about late last year showed a resurgence of attacks in the North-East. Chibok and Mandaragirau communities in Borno State were also attacked by the insurgents.
Two credible sources spoken to last night explained why the Chadian forces confronting the ISWAP fighters along the shores of the Lake Chad pull out.
One of them said: “They left partly because their mandate has lapsed. They were 200 in number. The soldiers came in March with the agreement to fight for nine months.
“The agreement was independent of the MNJTF arrangement where you have four countries – Nigeria, Chad, Niger and Cameroon fighting the Boko Haram. This one was different, Chad was paid to specifically bring its forces to fight and liberate some communities. Therefore, for them to continue, Nigerian government must pay them money again. It is Nigeria’s fight, it must pay the bills,” he said.
Another source said: “The Chadians have told the defence minister during his visit to Borno State two weeks ago that they were going to leave as soon as their mandate elapsed and would not return until there is a corresponding commitment to ending the war by commanders and troops on the Nigerian side.”
Asked to say more on this, the officer said, “Yes, the Chadians are getting money, legal money for the services they are rendering but they feel there is sabotage somewhere. There are some people that do not want the war to end; they see it as franchise.”
