Chad to form elite units to fight rebels; control borders

Ahmed Adel

Chad works to redistribute its army along its borders with other states as part of its counterterrorism efforts.

The African country will then try to double the number of army troops nationwide in its bid to prevent terrorist groups from growing and gaining more force.

On September 26, Chad unveiled a plan to significantly increase the size of the army to address security challenges and face rebel movements.

Defense Minister, Gen. Daoud Yaya Ibrahim, told his country’s parliament that the army had begun the process of increasing its personnel from 35,000 at present to 60,000 by the end of 2022.

Elite units

Ibrahim added that the army command had started the process of increasing the number of army troops by recruiting and training soldiers and non-commissioned officers.

The goal, he said, is to build elite units capable of adapting to the asymmetric warfare faced by the Sahel countries.

He pointed out that the army would seek more funding in the next budget for defense spending.

Chad is fighting alongside Nigeria, Cameroon and Niger, as well as the Sahel states, Mali and Burkina Faso, against terrorists linked to al-Qaeda and ISIS.

The country’s army is also fighting rebels in northern territories where former President Idriss Deby was killed in April 2021 while inspecting troops fighting rebels based in Libya.

Recently, the head of the ruling military council in Chad, Mohamed Idriss Deby, suggested reviving the quadripartite agreement with Libya, Sudan, and Niger by forming a joint military force.

The proposal will open the door for the formation of a military force on the border with Libya to prevent the incursion of rebel groups, as happened in April 2021, which led to the killing of the late Chadian president.

In 2018, the four countries signed a security cooperation agreement to combat terrorism and human trafficking.

However the agreement did not prevent the spread of paramilitary forces in southern Libya and the incursion of Chadian rebels from the Arab country.