Chad could be removed from the U.S. travel ban list

U. S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has expressed his willingness to remove Chad from the travel ban list issued by the United States last September.

Tillerson who visited the capital N’Djamena on Monday described Chad as an “important partner” in counter terrorism.

Chad has been vital in the fight against Boko Haram and against ISIS in West Africa with its soldiers in the front line.

“We managed to defeat Daech in Iraq and Syria, we knew they were going to flee that region and we knew his fighters would go to Africa. They have settled in several regions,“he said, recalling U. S. support for the G5 Sahel multinational force, for which Washington pledged financial support.

According to a Chadian military source, the United States has a UAV unit based at N’ Djamena airport to monitor the Sahel, supports the Mixed Multinational Force (MMF) in the fight against Boko Haram, participates in Chadian military training and supplies equipment to the army.

Tillerson, is a former ExxonMobil CEO, a company with which N’ Djamena has had troubled relations over exploiting Chadian oil.

From Chad he briefly visited Nigeria for the final stage of his mini-African tour.

Both oil-producing countries are struggling to contain the Islamist Boko Haram insurgency.