Chad to help Cameroon fight Boko Haram militants

World Today

Chadian troops are deploying to Cameroon to help the country fight off Boko Haram militants from neighboring Nigeria. CCTV’s Sophia Adengo reported the story from Abuja, Nigeria.

On Thursday, Chad’s president Idriss Deby announced the deployment of his country’s soldiers to help Cameroon fight Boko Haram. The militants have been launching occasional cross-border attacks in Cameroon, but in most cases have suffered heavy losses.

The group has engaged in a bloody campaign in northeastern Nigeria, killing over 10,000 in just a year.

Chad shares a porous border with Nigeria and has been accused of helping Boko Haram. Just last month, the “Bring Back Our Girls” pressure group accused Chad’s government of providing a safe haven for Boko Haram and delivered a protest note to the Chadian embassy in Abuja.

Nigeria, Chad and Niger each had soldiers based at a military base in Baga. After Boko Haram took full control of the base, Nigeria’s military said Chad and Niger troops had long abandoned the area. The discovery of Chadian nationals fighting alongside Boko Haram in Nigeria only fueled the suspicion.

“Our patriotic troops successfully countered an attack by Boko Haram militants near the town of Biu,” Mike Omeria, a Nigerian government spokesman said. “Clearly their intention was to penetrate that second largest city in Borno, at least, and from the records available to us at the moment because the figure change, at 42 insurgents and 15 Chadians among the insurgents were killed during intense ground battle.”