The 2,000 troops deployed on June 8, 2016 are to help Nigerien forces completely chase out Boko Haram fighters from Bosso.
The alliance between Niger and Chad in eradicating the cross-border terrorist group Boko Haram has once more entered its effective implementation phase as over 2,000 troops from Chad are in Niger for an onslaught against Boko Haram fighters in the south eastern border locality of Bosso. Mail Online cited military sources of saying on Wednesday that the "heavily armed" soldiers will "search everywhere for Boko Haram.”
The Chadian forces started arriving in Niger on Tuesday and advanced on Bosso, the border town near Lake Chad in which Boko Haram fighters invaded on June 3, 2016 and killed at least 32 soldiers, Aljazeera reported. Niger’s authorities reportedly disclosed that a total of 55 Boko Haram fighters were killed and many others injured. The attack left indelible humanitarian imprints as the United Nations High Commission for Refugees disclosed on June 7 that up to 50,000 people have fled the town of Bosso mostly towards Diffa. The majority of the displaced people are living in the open and in precarious conditions.
Niger’s troops reportedly retook Bosso last Saturday but it is unclear who now controls the town. This is because following reports, Boko Haram militants once again took over the town on Sunday night. Mail Online cited the Mayor of Bosso, Mamadou Bako, and a military source of confirming the takeover on Monday, but the Nigerien government denied it.
The deployment of Chadian troops for reinforcement in Bosso is the immediate fallout of the talks Niger’s President Mahamadou Issoufou had with his Chadian counterpart, Idriss Deby Itno on Tuesday, June 7, 2016 in N’Djamena. President Deby and his guest during the talks in the Chadian capital mapped out joint combat strategies to uproot Boko Haram from its strongholds in south eastern Niger. News agency reports also say that on the morrow of the Boko Haram attacks in Bosso, President Deby of Chad visited his country’s troops stationed in Bol along the banks of Lake Chad and gave them instructions on the new line of action.
