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Chadian soldiers arrive in Cameroun to battle B’Haram

By EDITOR
18 January 2015   |   7:06 pm
A CONTINGENT of soldiers from Chad has arrived in northern Cameroun where it would deploy to the Nigerian border as part of efforts to contain the Boko Haram insurgency, a spokesman for Cameroun’s defense ministry said Sunday.   Boko Haram, which aims to carve out an Islamist state in northern Nigeria, has stepped up attacks…

A CONTINGENT of soldiers from Chad has arrived in northern Cameroun where it would deploy to the Nigerian border as part of efforts to contain the Boko Haram insurgency, a spokesman for Cameroun’s defense ministry said Sunday.

  Boko Haram, which aims to carve out an Islamist state in northern Nigeria, has stepped up attacks in the region as Africa’s biggest economy prepares for a February 14 presidential election.

  The group has expanded its operational zone into northern Cameroun over the past year, prompting Yaounde to deploy thousands of additional forces, including elite troops, to its border with Nigeria.

  A convoy of troops from Chad arrived in Maroua, the main town in Cameroun’s Far-North Region, late on Saturday, Colonel Didier Badjeck said while declining to say how many soldiers had been dispatched by N’Djamena.

  “In the coming days, they will be deployed to the war zone on the border with Nigeria so that they can join our defense forces to crush and prevent incursions of Boko Haram into Camerounian territory,” he said.

  Cameroun’s President, Paul Biya, who recently appealed for international assistance against Boko Haram, announced earlier this week that he was expecting the arrival of a large Chadian force to support his country’s efforts against the militants.

  Chad has a reputation as one of the region’s best militaries and helped French forces drive al Qaeda-linked Islamists from northern Mali in 2013.

  Despite the growing cross-border nature of the threat posed by Boko Haram, efforts to deploy a joint force from Nigeria, Chad, Niger and Cameroun to take on the Islamist fighters have faltered.

  Ghana’s President, John Mahama, who currently heads West African bloc ECOWAS, told Reuters on Friday that regional leaders will seek approval from the African Union next week to create a new force to fight Boko Haram.

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