Chad begins US-backed military exercise as warm-up for Boko Haram

By Reuters - Feb 16,2015 - Last updated at Feb 16,2015

N’DJAMENA — Chad launched a US-backed counter-terrorism exercise on Monday with 1,300 soldiers from 28 African and Western countries, billing it as a warm-up for an offensive against Nigeria’s Islamist insurgent group Boko Haram.

The “Flintlock” manoeuvres unfolded as Chad and four neighbouring states prepare a task force to take on Boko Haram, the biggest security threat to Africa’s top oil producer Nigeria and an increasing concern to countries bordering it.

The Sunni jihadist group killed an estimated 10,000 people last year in its drive to create an Islamic emirate in northern Nigeria.

Boko Haram has escalated cross-border attacks in recent weeks in the Lake Chad area, where Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon and Niger meet. On Monday, it attacked a Cameroon military camp.

The annual exercises, which began in 2005, aim to improve cross-border military cooperation in the Sahel, a region prey to Al Qaeda-linked and home-grown Islamists, separatist insurgents and criminal gangs.

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