On Monday, Chad announced the deployment of a new contingent of about 1,000 troops to support the G5 Sahel force.
The announcement by the Chadian Foreign Minister Amine Abba Sidick, was during the 8th Ordinary Session of the Council of Ministers of G-5 in Nouakchott, Mauritania, on Monday, October 5.
The G5 Sahel, headquartered in Nouakchott, is a United Nations backed intergovernmental cooperation framework created in 2014, comprising Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, and Niger Republic.
In 2017, G5 Sahel leaders officially launched the Cross-Border and counter terrorism Joint Force in Bamako, pooling their resources to fight security threats in the Sahel region.
The joint force receives logistics and combat support from the European Union, United States and France.
Radio France Internationale reported that Chad would soon mobilise a second military contingent of around 1,000 to strengthen the action of the G5 Sahel joint force.
“Chadian soldiers will be deployed in the regions of the three borders between Mali, Niger (Republic) and Burkina Faso. The dispatch of this contingent had been expected since last year but it had been officially delayed due to the country’s engagement in Lake Chad against Boko Haram,” Radio France reported.
Sidick was quoted as saying the deployment was imminent.
“ Although the situation in Lake Chad is not sufficiently stable, the Marshal of Chad, Idriss Deby Itno, President of the Republic, Supreme Chief of the Armed Forces, instructed us to have this battalion engaged in the central zone for the SAMA II operation.
“In this regard, I come to solemnly announce the engagement of the second Chadian battalion of the G5 Sahel joint force in the central zone.
“The minister delegate to the presidency in charge of armies and veterans and war victims has been instructed to work out the logistical details with the partners.
“Taken individually, none of our states can defeat terrorism, which is why Chad is convinced that pooling our efforts remains the only option to fight terrorism in our community space, ” Sidick said.
The G-5 troops are deployed in support of French led Operation Barkhane which has a mandate for counter-terrorism operations across the region with the U.N. Minusma stabilisation mission in Mali.
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