Chad has just become the first foreign country to fight by Cameroon in the war against Boko Haram.
As terrorist attacks become more frequent and daring in the Far North, Chad is sending troops to fight by Cameroonian soldiers, the Unity Palace said in a statement.
Details, including the nature and size of Chadian military engagements in the north of the country, were not released.
However, we understand the additional troops will be useful in securing the Lake Chad section of the border with Nigerian and could include air operations.
Defense minister Edgar Alain Mebe Ngo’o discussed the direct Chadian participation in the war against Boko Haram on Wednesday in Ndjamena.
It is a major shift from Cameroon-Chad anti-terrorism cooperation which has in the past year focused on securing individual borders and sharing intelligence.
Cameroon has already deployed about 7000 troops across the Far North, where Boko Haram has scaled up attacks over the past six months. In a statement, the Unity Palace said simply that Chad will be adding “an important consignment” of boots on the ground.
Chad’s involvement comes shortly after President Paul Biya called for more international support, warning the militants still had striking force in spite of recent losses.
Boko Haram has killed more than 11,000 people and displaced about 1.5 million, mostly in Nigeria, since taking up arms in 2009 for a bloody campaign against Western education.
The group briefly took a military base in Achigachia at the end of December, forcing Cameroon to use airstrikes in the battle for the first time. On Monday, Cameroon killed 143 militants who tried to take a military base in Kolofata.
In a recent video attributed to the group, its leaders warned they will continue to pound Cameroon unless the country converted into Islam. Its recent attacks in Cameroon have tended to target military installations.
Part of their objectives in Cameroon is to carve out a caliphate in parts of the north to add to territory they already occupy in northeast Nigeria, believes the military. But their interest in military outstations suggest the group is also determined to steal arms as it has done from the Nigerian army several times in the past.
That is a drastic shift from the goals of the terrorist group just over six months ago, which included stealing food from border residents and abducting people for ransom.
The military believes Boko Haran has recently become more organized, regularly combining tactics of conventional warfare with hit-and-run approaches typical of such groups.
Chadian soldiers will be the first foreign troops fighting by Cameroonian soldiers, in a war military officials say they expect to be long drawn.
“The President of the Republic warmly welcomes this gesture of brotherhood and solidarity enshrined in the constant commitment of both Head of States in favour of the stability, peace and security of their countries and their respective peoples,” the Unity Palace said in a statement.
