Chad withdraws from fighting terrorism on African coast

Shaima Hefzy

The country of Chad has decided to withdraw from the forces carrying out military operations to counter terrorism in the African Sahel region, which increases the chances of extremist groups, especially Boko Haram, to carry out their terrorist acts.

At the end of April 2020, Chadian President Idriss Deby announced that his country’s army would stop participating in military operations outside the country’s borders, saying: “Our soldiers will die for Lake Chad and the coast. From today no Chadian soldier will participate in a military operation outside Chad.”

The Chadian army is involved in the war against terrorism in the African Sahel region and around Lake Chad, the region where the Boko Haram extremist group is active.

Chad, Niger and Nigeria, as well as Cameroon, are located on Lake Chad, which consists of a series of lakes and swamps dotted with small islands that have become an ideal haven for Boko Haram.

The Chadian position comes at a time when the security situation in the African Sahel region is worsening, and the joint force of the countries of the region needs, more than ever, to receive support from the international community, because the five-party force alone cannot secure the coast. There is much to do to prevent the situation from further deteriorating.

Mauritania and Chad are examples of effective regional and international cooperation in combating terrorism and extremism, and Chad has played a strong role in military operations in neighboring countries, and for years, the Chad government continued its active participation in counter-terrorism training courses, especially in 2018.

The Chadian National Police also continued to seek US government training in investigations, crisis handling and border security.

Withdrawing from the combined force is a second step in a different direction to deal with terrorism outside its borders, as it has amended the Terrorism Penal Code, with the aim of “harmonizing the constitution in accordance with all the countries of the group of five Sahel countries.”

The amendment of the law aims to abolish the death penalty, which the government justifies. It says that “the logic of killing a man to punish him for killing another person is ridiculous.”

On March 23, 2020, a terrorist attack by Boko Haram occurred in a military camp in Boma, Chad, which killed at least 92 Chadian soldiers, who were equipped with machine guns and grenades, and the accident injured 47 people.

The terrorist group has a reputation for continuing attacks in sub-Saharan Africa, with a strategy often involving underage suicide bombers.