Biodun Iginla, BBC News

Biodun Iginla, BBC News
Showing posts with label niger. Show all posts
Showing posts with label niger. Show all posts

Tuesday, March 24, 2020

BREAKING: Boko Haram kills almost 100 soldiers in a seven-hour attack in Chad


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Chadian soldiers on patrol near Gamboru village on February 4
Chadian soldiers on patrol near Gamboru village on February 4 © Stéphane Yas, AFP |
by Rashida Adjani and Biodun Iginla, France24, N'Djemina, Chad
Boko Haram jihadists have killed nearly 100 Chadian soldiers in a seven-hour attack on an island army base, in their deadliest assault yet on the country's armed forces. 
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President Idriss Deby told Chad television he travelled to the scene of the attack on Tuesday to pay tribute to the 92 dead soldiers, saying it was the first time so many troops had been lost.
The attack early Monday morning in Boma, Lac province, is part of an expanding jihadist campaign in the vast, marshy Lake Chad area, where the borders of Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Nigeria converge. 
Boko Haram launched an insurgency in Nigeria in 2009 before beginning incursions in its neighbouring countries to the east.
"We lost 92 of our soldiers, non-commissioned officers and officers," in the attack in Boma, the president said.
"It's the first time we have lost so many men," he said.
The attack on soldiers on the Boma peninsula lasted at least seven hours, and reinforcements sent to help became bogged down and were also targeted, several military sources told us at France24. 
"The camp is on an island where the ways in were controlled by Boko Haram fighters, they were able to leave as they wanted and without being forced out by the army," one security official said.
"The enemy has hit at our defences hard in this zone," the senior officer said.
One military official said army vehicles were destroyed, including armoured vehicles, and captured military arms were carried off in speedboats by Boko Haram.
The base was taken by surprise by the 5:00 am attack, the official said.
Boko Haram has stepped up its attacks in recent months on the islands of the Lake Chad basin where it takes advantage of the vast terrain to launch assaults.
Boko Haram's insurgency has killed 36,000 people and displaced nearly two million in northeastern Nigeria since it began, according to the UN. 
Since 2015, countries in the region have cooperated in the Multinational Joint Force, a regional coalition engaged around Lake Chad with the help of local residents formed into vigilante groups.
But the regional militaries are struggling to cope with the jihadist insurgency. 
In Cameroon, violence increased in 2019 and early 2020. In Cameroon's Far North, 275 people were killed by jihadist attacks in 2019, most of them civilians, according to a report published by Amnesty International in December.
In Niger, 174 soldiers were killed in three attacks in January and December.




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Sunday, December 22, 2019

'We are at a turning point in war' against jihadism: French President Macron in Niger


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French President Emmanuel Macron speaking in Niamey, Niger, on Sunday December 22 2019.
French President Emmanuel Macron speaking in Niamey, Niger, on Sunday December 22 2019. Screengrab FRANCE 24.
by Rashida Adjani and Biodun Iginla, France24, Niamey, Niger
French President Emmanuel Macron said that the fight against jihadism in the Sahel was at “a turning point”, calling on the eight countries in this African region to redefine “more clearly the objectives”. 
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Macron was speaking on Sunday in Niger’s capital city Niamey, where he was paying his respects at the graves of 71 Nigerien soldiers killed in December.
“The coming weeks are absolutely decisive for our fight against terrorism. We are at a turning point in this war. We must (...) redefine the objectives more clearly at the summit in Pau (south-west France) on January 13,”said Macron, standing beside his Nigerien counterpart Mahamadou Issoufou.
“Military, political and development objectives for the next 6, 12 and 18 months must be defined much more clearly,” said Macron.
Macron arrived in Niger after wrapping up a 48-hour visit to the Ivory Coast. Security issues in the troubled Sahel region have dominated Macron’s African visit, with the French leader facing increasing criticism over Paris’s role in the G5 Sahel force.
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The leaders of the anti-jihadist G5 Sahel military alliance are due to attend this summit in France on January 13, when Macron said they would clarify the “political and strategic framework” of the operation after tensions emerged.
'No imperialist intentions'
Regional leaders have been demanding a respectable and respectful relationship with the former colonial power.
In response, Macron has called for political clarity from regional powers and insisted that “France is not there with imperialist intentions”.
This was a message he repeated on arrival in Niamey.
“Everywhere in the region, opposition movements and groups are demanding the French presence is imperialist or neo-colonial. They tend to think that as soon as there is a difficulty on the ground, it is France’s fault,” said Macron in Niger’s capital city.
“President Issoufou clearly reminded us in what capacity France has intervened at the express demand of the Nigerien state. In other words, sovereign figures think that they need French support through Operation Barkhane.”
This military operation is an ongoing French anti-insurgent operation in Africa's Sahel region, which commenced August 1 2014.



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