They flee the return of Boko Haram. Hundreds of people leave northeast Nigeria after the Chadian military decides to repatriate its troops. These 1,200 soldiers, who had been deployed for nine months in the country to fight the jihadist group, arrived on Friday in their capital, N'Djamena, via Cameroon.
"These are our elements who left to lend a hand to Nigerian soldiers several months ago who returned to the country, they finished their mission," said Saturday the spokesman of the Chadian army, Colonel Azem Bermandoa, without specify whether these soldiers were going to be relieved by others. "There are no longer any of our soldiers in Nigeria. Those who have returned will return to their area of Lake Chad."
The announcement of this withdrawal sowed panic in the small town of Gajiganna, near Monguno, two bases where Chadian forces were gathered. "Most residents of Gajiganna have left for Borno state capital Maiduguri for fear that the 'terrorists' will come to attack them," a member of the civil militias engaged in the fight against them told AFP. jihadists.
In Maiduguri, it is impossible to live peacefully without the protection of the Chadian army, say some residents. "If they withdraw the army, I will not go back to my village because we cannot know if we are safe," said one of them. "They did not even prepare the ground for the withdrawal of the army," said another.
The insurgency by Boko Haram and his ISWAP faction, affiliated with the Islamic State group, continues to rage in the Lake Chad region. Fighting between the jihadist group and the army has left at least 35,000 dead since 2009, and has spread to neighboring Niger, Chad and Cameroon.
With AFP
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