Chad Begins U.S.-backed Military Exercise As Warm-up for Boko Haram
9:21am EST
By Daniel Flynn
N'DJAMENA, Feb 16 (Reuters) - Chad launched a U.S.-backed counter-terrorism exercise on Monday grouping 1,300 soldiers from 28 African and Western countries, billing it as a warm-up for an offensive against Nigerian Islamist insurgent group Boko Haram.
The "Flintlock" manoeuvres unfold as Chad and four neighbouring states prepare a taskforce to take on Boko Haram, the biggest security threat to Africa's top energy producer Nigeria and an increasing concern to countries bordering it.
Boko Haram killed 10,000 people last year in its campaign to carve an Islamic emirate out of northern Nigeria.
The jihadist group, based less than 100 km (62 miles) from Chad's capital N'Djamena, has escalated cross-border attacks in recent weeks in the Lake Chad area, where the territories of Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon and Niger converge.
It carried out an attack on a Cameroon military camp on Monday.
The annual Flintlock exercises, which began in 2005, aim to improve cross-border military cooperation in Africa's arid Sahel belt, a region prey to al Qaeda-linked and homegrown Islamists, separatist insurgents and criminal trafficking gangs.
Chad suffered its first known lethal attack by Boko Haram last week in what appeared to be a revenge strike after it deployed forces to attack the Islamist group's fighters in the Nigerian border town of Gambaru.
"This exercise takes place in a regional environment with major security issues posed by terrorists, in particular Boko Haram," Chadian Brigadier General Zakaria Ngobongue, the director of the exercise, said in a speech at a ceremony to launch Flintlock.
"This exercise to a large extent can be considered a warm-up to enable our special forces to learn techniques in the fight against terrorism," he said.
More than 250 U.S. troops will take part in the exercise. Its objectives include intelligence-sharing, training for patrols, desert survival techniques, airborne operations and marksmanship, a U.S. military spokesman said.
In an effort to improve communications between regional armies, he said, the U.S. military will leave communications equipment behind after the exercises end on March 9.
Weak armies, poor communications and regional rivalries have hurt efforts to improve military cooperation in the Sahel. The 2012 occupation of Mali's north by a mix of separatist and Islamist forces underscored the region's fragility.
Chad's battle-hardened military played a major role in a French-led offensive to liberate northern Mali in 2013, but Islamist militants still carry out attacks against a U.N. peacekeeping mission in the region.
Nations taking part in Flintlock include Algeria, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal and Tunisia.
(Editing by Matthew Mpoke Bigg and Mark Heinrich)
Boko Haram threatens Niger, Chad in New Video
BY OUR REPORTER
FEBRUARY 17, 2015
Boko Haram yesterday threatened Niger and Chad, warning the militants were prepared to carry out suicide bombings in the countries sending troops to help fight the group.
The warning came as leaders of the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS), gathered in Cameroon’s capital Yaounde, to finalize plans for a joint offensive against the insurgents who have stepped up their attacks in recent weeks.
In a translation published by the SITE Intelligence Group, Boko Haram sharply criticized Niger for joining the effort and said the country was being dragged into a “swamp of darkness.” Over the last 10 days, Boko Haram fighters have repeatedly struck the town of Diffa but not the capital.
“If you insist on continuing the aggression and the coalition with the government of Chad, then we give you glad tidings that the land of Niger is easier than the land of Nigeria and moving the war to the depth of your cities will be the first reaction toward any aggression that occurs after this statement,” it said, according to SITE’s transcript.
A multinational force to fight Boko Haram is expected to be formally launched in coming weeks. Chad, Cameroon, Niger and Benin initially pledged to help Nigeria.
Central African leaders held an extraordinary meeting yesterday in Cameroon’s capital Yaounde on a joint strategy to tackle the extremist Boko Haram group, officials said.
Six heads of state attended the meeting held under the aegis of the Economic Community of Central African States (CEEAC), while four other countries sent delegates. “We have to eradicate Boko Haram,” host President Paul Biya told his counterparts at the outset of the meeting.
Presidents from the 10-nation CEEAC bloc pledged to create an $87 million emergency fund to fight Boko Haram. “My counterparts from the CEEAC and I decided to create an emergency fund of 50 billion CFA francs ($86.72 million) to fight Boko Haram,” Gabon’s President Ali Bongo, who attended the one-day summit in Cameroon, said on his personal Twitter account.
Biya described Boko Haram fundamentalists as “partisans of a regressive and tyrannical society”, determined to undermine “a modern and tolerant society, guaranteeing the exercise of free rights” and freedom of faith.
Together with Biya, Presidents Catherine Samba Panza of the Central African Republic, Idriss Deby of Chad, Denis Sassou Nguesso of the Republic of Congo, Teodoro Obiang Nguema of Equatorial Guinea and Ali Bongo Ondimba of Gabon were gathered in Yaounde.
Angola, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Sao Tome and Principe were represented by government ministers. The aim of yesterday’s discussion was to come up with “an agreed solution” on the fight against the extremists, a source close to the Cameroonian government told AFP. Biya declared that Boko Haram’s utter disregard for human dignity meant “a total impossibility of compromise with (…) terrorist movements”, adding that the fight against terrorism was not a “crusade against Islam”.
With his country’s troops actively engaged in combatting Boko Haram, ECCAS chairman Deby called on nations in the economic group “who have not yet been struck” by the insurgency “to show their solidarity”.
“We also call on the international community to provide its support in equipment, diplomacy, finance, logistics and humanitarian aid to the efforts made by ECCAS,” Deby said.
Attacks Cameroon army base
•Several soldiers wounded
Boko Haram insurgents attacked a Cameroon military camp near the town of Waza in the north of the country yesterday, wounding several soldiers, an army spokesman said.
“The wounded are being evacuated. The insurgents have been stopped. An APC (armored personnel carrier) was taken from them and several of them were killed,” a Cameroonian military officer told journalists in Maroua, adding the incident was continuing.
Earlier this month, Boko Haram fighters killed more than 100 people in the northern Cameroon town of Fotokol, including residents inside their homes and a mosque, a local political leader said.
Chad launches US-backed military exercise
…As warm-up for offensive against insurgents
Chad launched a United States-backed counter-terrorism exercise yesterday, grouping 1,300 soldiers from 28 African and Western countries, billing it as a warm-up for an offensive against Boko Haram militants.
The “Flintlock” maneuvers unfold as Chad and four neighboring states prepare a taskforce to take on Boko Haram. Nations taking part in Flintlock include Algeria, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal and Tunisia.
The annual Flintlock exercises, which began in 2005, aim to improve cross-border military cooperation in Africa’s arid Sahel belt.
“This exercise takes place in a regional environment with major security issues posed by terrorists, in particular Boko Haram,” Chadian Brigadier General Zakaria Ngobongue, the Director of the exercise, said in a speech at a ceremony to launch Flintlock.
“This exercise to a large extent can be considered a warm-up to enable our special forces to learn techniques in the fight against terrorism,” he said.
More than 250 U.S. troops are taking part in the exercise. Its objectives include intelligence-sharing, training for patrols, desert survival techniques, airborne operations and marksmanship, a U.S. military spokesman said.
In an effort to improve communications between regional armies, he said, the U.S. military will leave communications equipment behind after the exercises end on March 9.
By Daniel Flynn
N'DJAMENA, Feb 16 (Reuters) - Chad launched a U.S.-backed counter-terrorism exercise on Monday grouping 1,300 soldiers from 28 African and Western countries, billing it as a warm-up for an offensive against Nigerian Islamist insurgent group Boko Haram.
The "Flintlock" manoeuvres unfold as Chad and four neighbouring states prepare a taskforce to take on Boko Haram, the biggest security threat to Africa's top energy producer Nigeria and an increasing concern to countries bordering it.
Boko Haram killed 10,000 people last year in its campaign to carve an Islamic emirate out of northern Nigeria.
The jihadist group, based less than 100 km (62 miles) from Chad's capital N'Djamena, has escalated cross-border attacks in recent weeks in the Lake Chad area, where the territories of Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon and Niger converge.
It carried out an attack on a Cameroon military camp on Monday.
The annual Flintlock exercises, which began in 2005, aim to improve cross-border military cooperation in Africa's arid Sahel belt, a region prey to al Qaeda-linked and homegrown Islamists, separatist insurgents and criminal trafficking gangs.
Chad suffered its first known lethal attack by Boko Haram last week in what appeared to be a revenge strike after it deployed forces to attack the Islamist group's fighters in the Nigerian border town of Gambaru.
"This exercise takes place in a regional environment with major security issues posed by terrorists, in particular Boko Haram," Chadian Brigadier General Zakaria Ngobongue, the director of the exercise, said in a speech at a ceremony to launch Flintlock.
"This exercise to a large extent can be considered a warm-up to enable our special forces to learn techniques in the fight against terrorism," he said.
More than 250 U.S. troops will take part in the exercise. Its objectives include intelligence-sharing, training for patrols, desert survival techniques, airborne operations and marksmanship, a U.S. military spokesman said.
In an effort to improve communications between regional armies, he said, the U.S. military will leave communications equipment behind after the exercises end on March 9.
Weak armies, poor communications and regional rivalries have hurt efforts to improve military cooperation in the Sahel. The 2012 occupation of Mali's north by a mix of separatist and Islamist forces underscored the region's fragility.
Chad's battle-hardened military played a major role in a French-led offensive to liberate northern Mali in 2013, but Islamist militants still carry out attacks against a U.N. peacekeeping mission in the region.
Nations taking part in Flintlock include Algeria, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal and Tunisia.
(Editing by Matthew Mpoke Bigg and Mark Heinrich)
Boko Haram threatens Niger, Chad in New Video
BY OUR REPORTER
FEBRUARY 17, 2015
Boko Haram yesterday threatened Niger and Chad, warning the militants were prepared to carry out suicide bombings in the countries sending troops to help fight the group.
The warning came as leaders of the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS), gathered in Cameroon’s capital Yaounde, to finalize plans for a joint offensive against the insurgents who have stepped up their attacks in recent weeks.
In a translation published by the SITE Intelligence Group, Boko Haram sharply criticized Niger for joining the effort and said the country was being dragged into a “swamp of darkness.” Over the last 10 days, Boko Haram fighters have repeatedly struck the town of Diffa but not the capital.
“If you insist on continuing the aggression and the coalition with the government of Chad, then we give you glad tidings that the land of Niger is easier than the land of Nigeria and moving the war to the depth of your cities will be the first reaction toward any aggression that occurs after this statement,” it said, according to SITE’s transcript.
A multinational force to fight Boko Haram is expected to be formally launched in coming weeks. Chad, Cameroon, Niger and Benin initially pledged to help Nigeria.
Central African leaders held an extraordinary meeting yesterday in Cameroon’s capital Yaounde on a joint strategy to tackle the extremist Boko Haram group, officials said.
Six heads of state attended the meeting held under the aegis of the Economic Community of Central African States (CEEAC), while four other countries sent delegates. “We have to eradicate Boko Haram,” host President Paul Biya told his counterparts at the outset of the meeting.
Presidents from the 10-nation CEEAC bloc pledged to create an $87 million emergency fund to fight Boko Haram. “My counterparts from the CEEAC and I decided to create an emergency fund of 50 billion CFA francs ($86.72 million) to fight Boko Haram,” Gabon’s President Ali Bongo, who attended the one-day summit in Cameroon, said on his personal Twitter account.
Biya described Boko Haram fundamentalists as “partisans of a regressive and tyrannical society”, determined to undermine “a modern and tolerant society, guaranteeing the exercise of free rights” and freedom of faith.
Together with Biya, Presidents Catherine Samba Panza of the Central African Republic, Idriss Deby of Chad, Denis Sassou Nguesso of the Republic of Congo, Teodoro Obiang Nguema of Equatorial Guinea and Ali Bongo Ondimba of Gabon were gathered in Yaounde.
Angola, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Sao Tome and Principe were represented by government ministers. The aim of yesterday’s discussion was to come up with “an agreed solution” on the fight against the extremists, a source close to the Cameroonian government told AFP. Biya declared that Boko Haram’s utter disregard for human dignity meant “a total impossibility of compromise with (…) terrorist movements”, adding that the fight against terrorism was not a “crusade against Islam”.
With his country’s troops actively engaged in combatting Boko Haram, ECCAS chairman Deby called on nations in the economic group “who have not yet been struck” by the insurgency “to show their solidarity”.
“We also call on the international community to provide its support in equipment, diplomacy, finance, logistics and humanitarian aid to the efforts made by ECCAS,” Deby said.
Attacks Cameroon army base
•Several soldiers wounded
Boko Haram insurgents attacked a Cameroon military camp near the town of Waza in the north of the country yesterday, wounding several soldiers, an army spokesman said.
“The wounded are being evacuated. The insurgents have been stopped. An APC (armored personnel carrier) was taken from them and several of them were killed,” a Cameroonian military officer told journalists in Maroua, adding the incident was continuing.
Earlier this month, Boko Haram fighters killed more than 100 people in the northern Cameroon town of Fotokol, including residents inside their homes and a mosque, a local political leader said.
Chad launches US-backed military exercise
…As warm-up for offensive against insurgents
Chad launched a United States-backed counter-terrorism exercise yesterday, grouping 1,300 soldiers from 28 African and Western countries, billing it as a warm-up for an offensive against Boko Haram militants.
The “Flintlock” maneuvers unfold as Chad and four neighboring states prepare a taskforce to take on Boko Haram. Nations taking part in Flintlock include Algeria, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal and Tunisia.
The annual Flintlock exercises, which began in 2005, aim to improve cross-border military cooperation in Africa’s arid Sahel belt.
“This exercise takes place in a regional environment with major security issues posed by terrorists, in particular Boko Haram,” Chadian Brigadier General Zakaria Ngobongue, the Director of the exercise, said in a speech at a ceremony to launch Flintlock.
“This exercise to a large extent can be considered a warm-up to enable our special forces to learn techniques in the fight against terrorism,” he said.
More than 250 U.S. troops are taking part in the exercise. Its objectives include intelligence-sharing, training for patrols, desert survival techniques, airborne operations and marksmanship, a U.S. military spokesman said.
In an effort to improve communications between regional armies, he said, the U.S. military will leave communications equipment behind after the exercises end on March 9.
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