Chad denies targeting civilians in operation against Boko Haram

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

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

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

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”.

“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.

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.

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

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).

“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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