The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Chad

  • Boko Haram: Chad extends state of emergency

    Chad’s national assembly extended a state of emergency in the western Lake Chad region by four months on Wednesday following a double attack by Boko Haram militants that killed some 12 people.

    “The state of emergency is prolonged by 147 unanimous votes by the parliament for four months. That is to say it will end on March 22, 2016 “a ruling party deputy told Reuters. The initial emergency was authorized on November 9 and was set to last 12 days.

    The government wanted a six-month extension but deputies opposed it, another deputy told Reuters.

    Chad helped force Boko Haram to cede territory earlier this year, undermining the sect’s six-year campaign to carve out a Nigerian caliphate. The rebels have since ramped up attacks in remote border areas around Lake Chad.

    Oil-producing Chad is a key ally in the fight against the Islamist threat across West Africa, playing a central role in offensives on al Qaeda-linked groups in Mali and Boko Haram militants in neighbouring Nigeria.

  • Chad declares state of emergency in Boko Haram-hit region

    Chad has declared a state of emergency in the Lake Chad region after a series of raids and suicide bombings there by the Boko Haram sect, the government said on Monday.

    Chad was instrumental in forcing Boko Haram to cede territory earlier this year, undermining its six-year campaign to carve out a Nigerian caliphate, Reuters reported.

    But guerrillas have since ramped up attacks in remote border areas around Lake Chad, killing at least three people in a Chadian village on Sunday and three Nigerian refugees in northern Cameroon on Monday.

    Chad’s Communications Minister, Hassan Sylla Bakari, said the order, effective immediately, would grant authorities new powers to search and monitor residents in the region.

    There has not been a state of emergency in Chad, one of Africa’s military heavyweights, since a series of rebellions in the 2000s springing from its volatile east. Neighbouring Niger also has a state of emergency in its border region of Diffa.

    A top United Nations official said last month that an 8,700 regional task force will begin joint raids against Boko Haram when the rainy season ends soon.

     

  • Chadian ex-president faces war crimes trial

    Chadian ex-president faces war crimes trial

    The war crimes trial of Chadian former President Hissene Habre, will resume on Monday in Senegal’s capital, Dakar.

    The trial which, comes 45 days after he and his lawyers boycotted the court, marks the first time an African ex-president faces justice in sub-Saharan Africa.

    Habre stands accused of crimes against humanity, war crimes and torture, and will face the Extraordinary African Chambers, a special criminal court set up by the African Union within the Senegalese court system.

    So far, about 2,500 of the dictator’s victims had submitted their testimonies, including those of Rights groups who accused the 72-year-old of being responsible for the deaths of 40,000 people during his time in power.

    But Habre – who is said to have prevented all forms of opposition during his rule from 1982 to 1990 by using a system of arrest, torture and murder – refused to acknowledge the legitimacy of the court.

    The ex-president, who was previously dragged into the courtroom did not stand up or respond when called on by the judge when the trial began in July, instead he interrupted the proceedings shouting that it was a “farce’’.

    The court has meanwhile appointed a new team of lawyers to represent Habre for the remainder of the trial.

  • Chad to the rescue?

    “Dada is a weakling,” a Yoruba saying direly warns, “but he boasts a mighty younger sibling”.  That would appear the story of (once almighty?) Nigeria, vis-a-vis the latest cheery news from the Boko Haram front.

    First, cheery news.  At last, Boko Haram’s nose appears finally being bloodied — and about time too! — with Nigerian troops’ reported crushing victory, in the ill-fated Boko Haram raid on Maiduguri, capital of Borno State; and epicentre of the Islamists’ insurrection.

    Boko Haram attacked twice; and twice it was put to the sword.  That is the sort of news Nigerians want to hear — and Hardball says Bravo to our brave troops, including the volunteer militias that joined to repel these blood thirsty anarchists.  Though it is still audacious Boko Haram must attack and our military defend (it should have been otherwise), the victory is no less sweet and reassuring.

    Cheery news, of sorts too: according to news reports, foreign armies from neighbouring countries — Chad, Niger and Cameroun — have now fully joined the anti-Boko Haram column.   But that is no altruism.  It is only strategic thinking that Boko Haram be checked before spreading its fatal doctrine into these countries, and contaminating their peoples.

    Besides, it is the decision of the African Union (AU) to raise a regional army to contain this menace.  That is just as well, for an injury to one is injury to all.

    Still, from this cheering news would suggest some jeer: “Chad captures Gamboru from sect”, was a headline in the February 4 issue of The Nation.  Gamboru is a Nigeria-Chad border town, which Boko Haram had earlier over-run, after putting Nigerian troops on the run.

    Indeed, it is good news that Gamboru is free.  If the lunatic boasts and taunts of Ibrahim Shekau, and the Stone Age savagery of his band of Islamist lunatics are anything to go by, the liberation of Gamboru is very good news.

    But by Chad?  That is not so good — particularly that, within four days, Chad is reported to have liberated other towns in Borno State like Baga, Dikwa, Malam Fatori, Damasak, Ngala and part of Bama!

    So, to use the Yoruba saying as metaphor, is Nigeria now the elder weakling, relying on the muscles of Chad, its younger sibling?  That must be very traumatic to a people who have always worn a chip on the shoulder as “the giant of Africa”!

    Sure, the Defence Headquarters has pooh-poohed the reported Chadian military driving seat story, insisting the Nigerian military was in control, busy directing affairs and calling the shots.  That might well be.

    Still, results are results: even if Nigerians were indeed in charge, the Chadian troops’ intervention would appear clearly fatal for Boko Haram.  Besides, if Nigerian troops had earlier attained the reported Chadian level of success, the intervention of neighbouring countries would have been needless.

    It would appear, therefore, that the once-upon-a-time lion of West Africa, imposing peace and order in Liberia and Sierra Leone, after those countries’ civil war; and favourite peacekeepers in global trouble spots, has now become a mere lamb, to be rescued by Chad!

    But what if Chad suddenly develops appetite for territorial ambitions?  That should trouble every patriot; for a country unable to defend itself leaves itself open to foreign domination.

     

    • This article was first published on February 5, 2015
  • Nigerian, nine other Boko Haram members executed in Chad

    Nigerian, nine other Boko Haram members executed in Chad

    Chad yesterday executed a Nigerian, Mahamat Mustapha, also known as Bana Fanaye, and nine other alleged members of the terror sect, Boko Haram, by firing squad, 24 hours  after they were found guilty of a double suicide killing that left 38 people dead in the capital N’Djamena.

    “They were executed this morning on a shooting ground north of N’Djamena,” a judicial source told AFP. The report was confirmed by a security source who asked not to be identified.

    The 10 were condemned to death Friday in the country’s first trial of presumed members of the Islamist group.

    The trial lasted 48 hours.

    Prosecutor Bruno Mahouli said on Friday soon after the sentence was handed down that “the accused have recognized their guilt and accepted the sentence.”

    Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon and Niger have all suffered attacks by Boko Haram and earlier this year they announced a regional force to end the militants’ insurgency that has claimed more than 15,000 lives since 2009.

    The defendants were accused of criminal conspiracy, killings, willful destruction with explosives, fraud, illegal possessions of arms and ammunition, as well as using psychotropic substances.

    The accused included a Mahamat Mustapha said to have masterminded the June 15 suicide attacks that struck a school and a police building in N’Djamena, killing 38 people and injuring 101.

    On July 12, a fresh attack in the Chadian capital claimed by Boko Haram left at least 15 dead and 80 hurt after an assailant dressed as a woman blew himself up in the central marketplace.

    Shortly after Fanaye’s arrest in late June, Chad’s top prosecutor Alghassim Kassim said the suspect was the “ringleader of a network smuggling weapons and munitions between Nigeria, Cameroon and Chad”.

    Chad has beefed up security in response to the bloodshed.

    The regional force against Boko Haram is expected to number some 8,700 troops and police, but it has yet to go into action.

  • EFCC: Insurgents fund activities in Nigeria, Cameroun, Chad, Niger through illicit funds

    The Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), yesterday accused insurgents of funding terrorism in Nigeria, Chad, Niger and others through illicit cash.

    He added that the laundering of illicit funds from Nigeria to other borders dropped from $9.9billion in 2013 to $807,585,061.70 in 2014.

    He said the war against terrorism can only be won with  improved financial intelligence gathering by the anti-graft agency and other law enforcement agencies.

    Lamorde spoke in Abuja at the opening ceremony of a five-day inter-agency training programme on Cross Border Financial Investigation,  organised by the United States Department of Homeland Security, for  officers of the Nigeria Police Force, (NPF) Nigeria Immigration Service(NIS), the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS),  National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) and the EFCC.

    He said: “The EFCC, in collaboration with the Nigeria Customs Service and the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, have in the last few years taken very bold steps to check illicit movement of cash across our borders. Operatives stationed at major international airports across the country have intercepted millions of dollars in cash, which were not declared to customs by their owners.

    ”This measure accounted for the significant drop in currency outflow outside Nigeria in 2013, as currency declaration dropped from $9,926,739,648.00 to $1,324,045,617.00. There was a further drop in 2014 as currency outflows recorded an all- time low of $807,585,061.70.

    “It is not impossible that other factors contributed in forcing the drop. Perhaps this training will offer us an opportunity to determine these other factors that could have been at play.

    “Nevertheless, our target is to minimize, if not completely eradicate the incidence of illicit cash movement, bearing in mind the implicit danger to our collective health as a nation.

    The EFCC chairman said the only way to tackle terrorism  is to deny insurgents of illicit funds.”

    He added:  “A reputable strategy to fight insurgency is to deprive the insurgents of funds, because there is no dispute that illicit funds movement across borders fuels organized crimes, including terror attacks and insurgency in Nigeria.

    The Deputy Chief of Mission, United States Embassy, Maria Brewer said that the training programme will expose participants to new trends and techniques in combating economic and financial crimes.

    ”Since economic and financial crimes is a global phenomenon, the training will focus among others, on taking away proceed of crime, because when you take away the money, you take away why people do crime,”she said.

    The Commander of Narcotics, Alhaji Hamisa Lawal,  represented the NDLEA boss.

    Highpoint of the ceremony was the donation of a high-tech counting machine to the EFCC. Brewer made the presentation on behalf of the U.S. government to assist the EFCC and the country fight corruption.

     

  • How insurgency affect international peace

    How insurgency affect international peace

    • The Security Council recalls its primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security

    The Security Council has reaffirmed Member States’ determination to continue to do all they can to resolve conflict and to deny terrorist groups the ability to put down roots and establish safe havens to address better the growing threat posed by terrorism.

    The Council stresses that terrorism can only be defeated by a sustained and comprehensive approach involving the active participation and collaboration of all States and international, regional and sub-regional organizations to counter the terrorist threat.

    According to the council, terrorism in all its forms and manifestations constitutes one of the most serious threats to international peace and security, and that any acts of terrorism are criminal and unjustifiable, regardless of their motivation, wherever, whenever and by whosoever committed.

    Thus, the council expresses its concern at the continued threat posed to international peace and security by Jama’atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda’awati Wal-Jihad (also known as “Boko Haram” and hereinafter referred to as such) and all other individuals, groups, undertakings and entities associated with A1-Qaida, reaffirms its resolve to address all aspects of that threat, and reaffirms that terrorism, including the actions of the Boko Haram terrorist group, cannot and should not be associated with any religion, nationality, or civilization.

    The Security Council reiterates its strong condemnation of all the terrorist attacks, abuses of human rights and violations of international humanitarian law by Boko Haram in the Lake Chad Basin region.

    The council also recognized that women and girls are particularly targeted by Boko Haram, expresses its deep sympathy and condolences to the families of the victims as well as to the peoples and Governments of Nigeria, Niger, Cameroon and Chad and wishes a speedy recovery to those injured.

    The Security Council recalls that those responsible for abuses and violations of human rights and violations of international humanitarian law must be held accountable and brought to justice.

    The Security Council takes note of the Communiques of the African Union Peace and Security Council (AUPSC) of 25 November, 2014 on the threat posed by Boko Haram and the efforts of the Lake Chad Basin Commission (LCBC) Member States (Cameroon, Chad, Niger, and Nigeria) and Benin to combat Boko Haram.

    It further takes note of the Letter sent by the Chairperson of the African Union Commission (AUC) to the United Nations Secretary-General on 6 March 2015, forwarding the Communiques adopted by the AUPSC on 29 January and 3 March 2015, as well as the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF) Strategic Concept of Operations (CONOPS) to fight against Boko Haram.

    The Council, while acknowledging the progress made on the ground following joint regional military efforts in recent months, condemns strongly the continued deadly attacks perpetrated by the Boko Haram terrorist group, particularly against civilians and encourages increased regional cooperation.

    The Security Council encourages all actors involved in the response to support recovery programmes and the provision of the necessary protection measures for civilians, and to pay particular attention to the release and reintegration of children abducted by Boko Haram or formerly associated with this terrorist group.

    It recalls that Boko Haram has been designated as associated with Al-Qaida by the Committee established, pursuant to resolutions 1267 (1999) and 1989 (2011) and in this regard, expresses its readiness to consider listing individuals, groups, undertakings and entities providing support to Boko Haram, including those who are financing, arming, planning or recruiting for Boko Haram and all other individuals, groups, undertakings and entities associated with Al-Qaida through information and communications technologies including the Internet and social media or through any other means.

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  • 19 Boko Haram insurgents killed in Chad

    19 Boko Haram insurgents killed in Chad

    At least 19 Boko Haram fighters and two Chadian soldiers were killed in combat at the weekend after the insurgents attacked a Chadian village on the banks of Lake Chad, a military source said.

    “The Islamists fighters attacked early this morning and we returned fire and they were forced to flee back into Nigeria,” the source told Reuters by telephone from Komguia, where the fighting took place.

    Chadian President Idriss Deby had earlier vowed to crush the insurgents who have killed thousands of people and threatened the stability of the region.

    “Chad will never bend in the face Boko Haram and I promise you that Boko Haram will disappear,” he told a group of Muslim clerics.

    Niger’s army killed at least 30 suspected fighters as it searched for militants in villages just over the border with Nigeria, Nigerien security sources said.

    The army launched the operation on Thursday,  a day after gunmen thought to be from Boko Haram crossed over from Nigeria and killed at least a dozen villagers on the Niger side of the border.

    “Our defence forces who are engaged in the operation inside Nigeria between the towns of Malam Fatori and Damasak, killed the insurgents on Thursday,” a security source said, requesting not to be named.

     

  • Spain, U.S. condemns Boko Haram attacks

    Spain, U.S. condemns Boko Haram attacks

    Spain and US have strongly condemned the recent Boko Haram attacks in Chad and neighboring countries.

    Both countries also reassured that they remain committed to assisting the lake Chad countries to root out the threat posed by the group.

    In a statement by John Kirby U.S. Department of State Spokesperson Washington, D.C and made available to Diplomatic Correspondents in Abuja said US was prepared to expand its support both bilaterally with the individual countries and to the Multinational Joint Task Force.

    The statement reads: “The United States strongly condemns the horrific and indiscriminate Boko Haram suicide attack on the Grand Marche in the Chadian capital of N’Djamena on Saturday, July 11, as well as attacks in Cameroon, Niger, and Nigeria over the past two days.  Boko Haram’s targeting of men, women, and children highlights that the group’s brutality and barbarism know no bounds, and we remain committed to working closely with the region to root out the threat posed by the group.

    “We extend our deepest condolences to the families and loved ones of the soldiers, government officials, and civilians killed; we hope those who were injured will recover quickly.

    “The United States praises the security forces of Cameroon, Chad, Niger, and Nigeria for their timely responses to these callous and cowardly attacks on innocent civilians.

    “The United States continues to support the governments and people of the Lake Chad Basin region in their ongoing struggle to degrade and defeat Boko Haram.  We support these efforts through a number of security and counter-terrorism assistance programs, including intelligence, advisors, training, and equipment .

    “We look forward t

  • Chad seizes suspected Boko Haram weapons cache

    Chad seizes suspected Boko Haram weapons cache

    Chadian security forces, announced that they have seized a large weapons cache including guns, rockets and ammunition in a house in N’Djamena occupied by suspected members of the Boko Haram.

    The officials said the weapons, buried under the courtyard of the house in the eastern neighbourhood of Guinebor, were destined for northern Nigeria.

    One of the investigators said on condition of anonymity, that they were part of the weapons that Baana Fanaye, Boko Haram’s logistics chief for northern Cameroon and Chad, was preparing to send to Nigeria.

    He said the revelation came during an investigation after Fanaye was arrested in a raid by Chadian police in June.

    State prosecutor Alghassim Khamis said the latest arms cache, discovered on Thursday, was found hidden in one of the houses raided on June 27.

    He said Chadian authorities arrested 60 suspected militants on June 27 and dismantled their suicide attacks cells.

    Khamis said two days later, five officers and six militants were killed during a raid on an arms cache.