Chad shuts border against terrorists fleeing northern Nigeria over planned US military action
The Government of the Republic of Chad has shut its border with Nigeria over security concerns, following reports of alleged US military plans to take action against terrorists in the West African sub-region to stem the alleged Christian genocide in Nigeria.
The border closure was confirmed by Military sources in N’djamena, housing the headquarters of the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF), stating that the Chadian President Mahamat Idriss Déby Itno ordered a complete military lockdown along the Nigerian border.
The action was taken after intelligence suggested that some terrorists in northern Nigeria were planning to flee into Chadian territory, with sources saying that the Chadian army had been placed on full alert, with troops and armoured vehicles mobilized and deployed to crucial borders linking the two countries.
According to reports, the President was quoted to have said: “No armed group or foreign force will be allowed to enter Chadian soil under any disguise.”
There has been heightened tension and speculation in the West African sub-region since the US President Donald Trump threatened military action against “Islamic terrorists”, if the Nigerian Government fails to act fast and put an end to the alleged genocide against Christians in the Country.
Trump had said in a social media post: “If the Nigerian Government continues to allow the killing of Christians, the U.S.A. will immediately stop all aid and assistance to Nigeria, and may very well go into that now disgraced country, ‘guns-a-blazing,’ to completely wipe out the Islamic Terrorists who are committing these horrible atrocities.
“I am hereby instructing our Department of War to prepare for possible action. If we attack, it will be fast, vicious, and sweet, just like the terrorist thugs attack our CHERISHED Christians.”
Sources say that the closure was a preventive measure geared towards safeguarding the sovereignty of Chad and preventing possible infiltration by armed groups, using regional instability as a smokescreen.
