Chad deploys troops to fight B’Haram

The Chadian government at the weekend mobilised troops backed by dozens of armoured tanks to help Nigeria combat the Boko Haram insurgents. According to agency reports on Saturday, Chadian tanks headed out of the capital south towards Cameroon to help fight the dreaded Boko Haram insurgents ravaging North Eastern part of Nigeria. An AFP journalist who witnessed the troops movement reported that the convoy roared out of the city after Chad’s parliament voted to send armed forces to Cameroon and Nigeria to fight against the Islamists. Thousands of people also held a rally in N’Djamena, the capital of Chad, on Saturday in support of the authorities’ decision. Prime Minister Kalzeube Pahimi Deubet led the demonstrators as they marched from city hall in N’Djamena to the Place de Nation Square, carrying Chadian flags and chanting in French and Arabic: “Kick the forces of evil out of our territory.” A source close to the army said the force had begun preparing for departure Thursday. Earlier Friday, Chad’s parliament in N’Djamena voted 150 to 0 to send an unspecified number of “Chadian armed troops and security forces to assist Cameroonian and Nigerian soldiers waging war against the terrorists in Cameroon and Nigeria.” Meanwhile, Ghanaian President, John Mahama, said West African leaders were considering creating a military force to fight Boko Haram insurgents and will meet next week to tackle the issue. The West African bloc known as ECOWAS will seek the support of the African Union for the idea of a regional military force, Mahama told a news conference. “Nigeria is taking military action and Cameroon is fighting Boko Haram, but I think we are increasingly getting to the point where probably a regional or a multinational force is coming into consideration,” said Mahama, who currently chairs ECOWAS. “It is what we want to discuss at the AU because, if that must happen, there must be a mandate to allow such a force to operate,” he said. France must do more to help countries fight Boko Haram, President Francois Hollande told an annual conference of French and foreign ambassadors in Paris.

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