As attacks linked to the Islamists Boko Haram the Islamic State in West Africa Province (ISWAP) continue to rise in Chad, the same has been met with intensified military offensive in an effort to clear them.
In one of Boko Haram’s deadliest attack on March 23, when the militants staged a complex attack on Chadian troops stationed at a base in Bohoma. The assault by the militant lasted for 7 hours and left at least 98 Chadian soldiers dead and dozens more wounded.
The militant assault of Bohoma highlights worrying trend on Boko Haram’s combat and intelligence capabilities, given that the Chadian Army has been widely considered the superior regional force.
Boko Haram and ISWAP insurgency continue to surge in broader West African Countries. The insurgency that basically was concentrated largely in northern Nigeria a few years back now has spilled over into the northern Cameroon, southeastern Niger and western Chad.
Within Chad, militant Islamist group activities have been concentrated in Lac Province, which covers all Chadian territory around and across the lake. The number of incidents between the militants and Chadian troops have tripled from 7 in 2018 to 21 in 2019. Besides, in what is seen as a change of tactics by the militant group since the beginning of 2019, now civilian communities in Chad have dealt huge blows having been targeted at least 15 times resulting in dozens of casualties and abductions.
The militant insurgency has displaced nearly 170,000 people in Lac Province, approximately one-third of the Chadian population in that area. The militant activities have hurt livelihoods by hampering agricultural production and blocking cross-border trade. UN now estimates that 5.3 million people in Chad will require humanitarian assistance in 2020 courtesy of increased militant’s activities in the West African country.
After the March 23 attack, President Idriss Déby ordered the Chadian military to launch offensive to clear the militants from the Chadian territory. Following that order, Dozens of militants have been killed and their camps destroyed. Recently, Chadian troops captured 58 Boko Haram militants and put them in a prison. Corresponding open sources reports indicate that at least 44 have died by apparent ‘poisoning’.
There is possibility that Chadian security forces poisoned the militants in prison, perhaps to avenge the deaths of 98 soldiers in a March 23 attack on a base at Bohoma, in the Lake Chad marshlands. It was the largest one-day loss the vaunted Chadian army has ever suffered, and it prompted the massive military operation against Boko Haram.
Despite the intensified offensives by Chadian troops, Boko Haram and ISWAP remain formidable threat to Chad and stability of the broader West Africa region.
