The government of Chad said Tuesday that hundreds of Boko Haram fighters are fleeing the central African state’s territory and crossing over into Cameroon, Niger and Nigeria. State TV reports the fighters fled after clashes with Chadian forces over the weekend that killed more than 100 Boko Haram fighters as well as close to 20 Chadian soldiers.
Chad state TV reports that assaults have continued against Boko Haram strongholds after the central African state’s military saw almost 20 soldiers killed and 32 others injured in a Saturday battle with Boko Haram terrorists in the Lake Chad basin.
A government statement said about 100 Boko Haram fighters were killed and a dozen others injured during the clashes, and that Boko Haram fighters are now fleeing to Cameroon, Nigeria and Niger.
Earlier this month, Chad’s military launched an operation aimed at dislodging Boko Haram terrorists from areas around Lake Chad, according to the central African state’s president, General Mahamat Idriss Deby.
Deby said the operation – named Haskanite — is to avenge the killing of 40 government troops in October and to improve security for civilians in the area.
The offensive hit a complication last week, when Deby said the fighting forces of Cameroon, Nigeria and Niger, who all contribute troops to a regional anti-terrorism joint task force, had decided to not collaborate with the Chadian offensive.
Cameroon, Nigeria and Niger have made no public statements confirming or denying Deby’s claim, and VOA could not independently verify if the three countries have chosen not to participate in the Chadian operation.
Cameroon’s military said it is securing the country’s borders and protecting its civilians.
Deby has said he planned to withdraw his troops from the multi-national force, which has about 11,000 troops, because of the absence of what he calls coordinated efforts among member states to fight Boko Haram terrorism.
Remadji Hoinathy is a lecturer at the University of N’Djamena in Chad and a researcher on strategic development in central Africa and the Lake Chad Basin Commission.
He said it is imperative for neighboring states to strategize and join Chad in fighting Boko Haram because the terrorist group has a high capacity to infiltrate communities in Cameroon, Nigeria and Niger when attacked by forces from Chad. Remadji says fighters that survive onslaughts from Chad government forces will escape to safety areas in Cameroon, Niger and Nigeria and return to Chad to commit more atrocities when Operation Haskanite ends.
Chad has not said when it might withdraw its troops from the U.N.-assisted joint fighting force.
Chad civil society groups and political parties say they are surprised that officials of the joint task force have neither reacted to Chad’s threat to withdraw nor announced plans to cooperate with the offensive against Boko Haram.
Hisseine Abdoulaye is spokesperson of The Patriots, one of Chad’s political parties. He spoke to VOA via a messaging app from Chad’s capital N’djamena.
Abdoulaye said although it is the right of any state or party to pull out of an organization if its interests are not protected and respected, he disagrees with Chad’s announced plan to withdraw its troops from the Multinational Joint Task Force of the Lake Chad Basin Commission. He saif Chad’s military alone cannot stop militants from attacking government troops and communities.
Boko Haram launched an armed rebellion against the Nigerian government in 2009 to establish an Islamic state. Fighting has since spread to neighboring countries and has killed more than 40,000 people, displacing over 3 million according to the United Nations.
