According to information gathered online, Chad’s President Idriss Deby declared today that efforts to combat Nigeria’s Boko Haram jihadists had succeeded and that the terrorist group has been decapitated.
Addressing reporters in the capital N’Djamena on the 55th anniversary of Chad’s independence from France, Deby said: “Boko Haram is decapitated. There are little groups (of Boko Haram members) scattered throughout east Nigeria, on the border with Cameroon. It is within our power to definitively overcome Boko Haram.”
“The war will be short, with the setting up of the regional force, it will be over by the end of the year,” Deby added, referring to a new five-country force aimed at ending Boko Haram’s bloody six-year Islamist insurgency that he said would be “operational in a few days”.
Benin, Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Nigeria have all pledged troops towards the new force. However, no one is sure when the group will really be vanquished.
Deby further claimed that Boko Haram was no longer led by the fearsome Abubakar Shekau and that his successor was open to talks.
He said that the new Boko Haram leader is called Mahamat Daoud, who is said to have replaced Abubakar Shekau and he wants to negotiate with the Nigerian government.
But Deby, whose country has been spearheading the regional fightback against Boko Haram, said he would not advise Nigeria to negotiate with terrorists.
