Chad has announced that it would deploy at least 1200 troops to combat jihadists at the tri-border zone between Niger, Mali, and Burkina Faso. Chad’s President Idriss Deby Itno announced the same as the country’s contribution against militants in the violent-wracked region.
The announcement was made during the regional summit that is seeking to find a solution as well as seek assistance from the international community to quash the insurgency that has displaced at least 2 million people according to the UN. The region hopes that the international community can step up funds that would go a long way to decapitate the militancy including the cutting of financing and weapons as well as a long-term solution that would economically empower the residents consequently cutting the supply of recruits.
The summit, which French President Emmanuel Macron joined by videolink, comes a year after France boosted its Sahel deployment, seeking to wrench back control in the long-running battle. Macron further ruled out an immediate drawdown in France’s 5,100-strong Barkhane forces battling armed groups in the Sahel region of West Africa, describing a rushed exit as a mistake.
