Nigerians worried as Chad withdraws all troops from Lake Chad area

Residents of Maiduguri, capital of Nigeria’s northeastern Borno State have reacted to the withdrawal of Chadian troops from the Lake Chad region.

“I will not go back to my village because the issue of security is not 100%,” one of them told the AFP. The 1,200-strong Chadian force returned, last Friday, from their mission against Boko Haram in the north-east of the country.

Chad has ended a months-long mission fighting Boko Haram in neighbouring Nigeria and withdrawn its 1,200-strong force across their common border, an army spokesman confirmed Saturday.

Abbas Abubakar, a displaced person from Monguno said: “If they withdraw the army, I will not go back to my village because the issue of security is not 100%.

“When they withdraw the army, I don’t think I will still be going back, I can’t go back because without (them), there’s no security guarantee. With them sometimes they used to attack them in Baga and all this Durman.”

He did not specify if they might be replaced following Friday’s pullout which saw them “return to their sector at Lake Chad.”

However, Chad’s general chief of staff General Tahir Erda Tahiro said that if countries in the region which have contributed to a multinational anti-jihadist force were in agreement, more troops would likely be sent.