Chad will not participate in foreign anti-jihadist missions on its own

The Government of Chad declared this day that it will not send its soldiers individually to anti-jihadist missions in the Lake Chad basin, but qualified that it will continue to participate in joint operations with other countries, such as those of the G5 Sahel mixed force.

This week, Chad launched one of the largest anti-jihadist operations on the border with Lake Chad, called 'Colère de Boma' ('Rage of Boma'), in which 52 Chadian soldiers and some 1,000 jihadists were killed, according to Chadian Army spokesman Colonel Azem Bermendoa Agouna.

Following that mission, Chadian President Idriss Deby said last Friday that "they had felt very alone in the fight against (the jihadist group) Boko Haram," and that the soldiers had died trying to defend Lake Chad and the Sahel. "From today, no Chadian soldier will take part in any foreign military operation," Deby said in a televised speech.

However, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs made it clear on Sunday that the decision applies to Chad's unilateral missions outside its borders, and that it does not mean at any time that they will disengage from the mixed forces of which they are part. "The Ministry of Foreign Affairs wishes to clarify that its disengagement from the Mixed Multinational Force (FMM) of the Lake Chad Basin Commission (CBLT) and the Joint Force of the G5 Sahel, and even less from the UN Multidimensional Integrated Mission for the Stabilisation of Mali (MINUSMA) has never been questioned by Chad," reads the statement signed by Foreign Affairs spokesman Béchir Issa Hamidi.

Chad thus dispels doubts about its possible departure from regional anti-terrorist groups, at a time when jihadist activity and attacks have multiplied and reached areas, such as Burkina Faso, where they did not previously exist.

"We reaffirm Chad's determination and commitment to fighting terrorism and transnational organized crime, both within its territory and under the above-mentioned joint forces," he said externally.

Since the beginning of 2020, Boko Haram, an organization originating from Nigeria, has intensified its attacks against Chadian security forces. The terrorist group operates in the neighboring countries bordering the Lake Chad Basin: Chad (where it began its attacks in 2015), Cameroon, Niger and Nigeria.

The group was created in 2002 in the town of Maiduguri (northeast Nigeria) by the spiritual leader Mohameh Yusuf to denounce the abandonment of the north of the country by the authorities.

At the time it was carrying out attacks against the Nigerian police, representing the state, but since Yusuf was shot by agents in 2009 the group has become more radical. Since then, northeastern Nigeria has been in a state of violence provoked by Boko Haram, which seeks to impose an Islamic-style state on Nigeria, a country with a Muslim majority in the north and a predominantly Christian one in the south.

During its bloody campaign, the group has killed some 27,000 people and caused more than two million displaced persons, according to the UN.
 

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