Chad denies targeting civilians in operation against Boko Haram

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The Chadian government denied Thursday that it deliberately targeted civilians during military operations against Boko Haram jihadists on Lake Chad.

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Dozens of people were killed in separate Nigerian and Chadian airstrikes last week, prompting the UN’s rights chief to call for independent investigations.

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Local sources told AFP last weekend that as many as 40 fishermen using the lake were missing in the wake of the bombings.

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But Chad’s Minister of Communication Gassim Cherif Mahamat told reporters that the claims were “aimed at discrediting the Chadian army and may harm its dignity”.

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“The Chadian armed forces remain professional and committed on the front line of the fight against terrorism in the Sahel and in the Lake Chad basin,” he added.

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Nigeria’s army, for its part, said it had targeted the jihadists on the lake, which forms part of its northeast border with Chad, Cameroon and Niger.

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Mahamat said authorities in N’Djamena were willing to open investigations, but accused Boko Haram of terrorising local people.

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Boko Haram has been waging an Islamist insurgency in the region since 2009. It has also been hit by violence from a splinter group, the Islamic State in West Africa Province (ISWAP).

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“In the interests of transparency, the Chadian state is ready to carry out investigations,” he added. “We have an independent judiciary and institutions capable of conducting inquiries with full transparency.”

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