NIGERIA-VIOLENCE/BOKO HARAM-CHAD PRESIDENT Chad president says Boko Haram has a new leader

Record ID: 143900

  • Title: NIGERIA-VIOLENCE/BOKO HARAM-CHAD PRESIDENT Chad president says Boko Haram has a new leader
  • Date: 14th August 2015
  • Summary: MAIDUGURI, NIGERIA (FILE) (REUTERS) (MUTE) RED CROSS OFFICIALS CARRYING A BAGGED BODY JOS, NIGERIA (FILE) (REUTERS) NIGERIA ROAD SAFETY OFFICIALS DRIVING PAST
  • Embargoed: 29th August 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA80ITOV0OWOL1NYUHFYBUK80ZR
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: THIS EDIT CONTAINS GRAPHIC MATERIAL
    EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: THIS EDIT CONTAINS MATERIAL THAT WAS ORIGINALLY 4:3
    Chad's President Idriss Deby announced on Tuesday (August 11) that Boko Haram's fearsome leader Abubakar Shekau had been wounded in fighting and subsequently replaced at the head of the group by Mahamoud Daoud.
    Deby made the claim at a celebration to mark 55 years of Chad's independence, saying Daoud was open to peace talks.
    "I believe we hit hard against Boko Haram. And who is saying Abubakar Shekau is alive? He is just one man. But who says he is alive? Now, today we have a certain Mahamoud Daoud who has taken the baton from Abubakar Shekau and who a couple of days ago. I think, asked to hold a dialogue with the Nigerian government. I don't know if journalists here heard about this. As far as I am concerned, I strongly advise against holding a dialogue with terrorists," said Deby.
    He continued by telling reporters that the group will be finished as a fighting force by the end of the year.
    "Boko Haram has been decapitated, that is certain, and Boko Haram will disappear as a result of the joint forces put in place which will be operational in a few days," he added.
    Ebun Adegboruwa, a political analyst based in Lagos, told Reuters on Friday (August 14) that Deby's predictions of Boko Haram's imminent demise could be premature.
    "Who becomes the leader of Boko Haram is irrelevant to the damage they are doing to our nation in terms of the violence and deaths that we are recording. Whether is is Shekau, whether is is Daoud, the fact that the Boko Haram insurgency has the capacity to inflict harm on the Nigerian nation, on Chad, on Cameroon is what matters to us and by now you will recall that there is an affiliation with ISIS over some four or five months ago whereby the group has now officially been absorbed as the West African chapter of ISIS. So in that regard, even the local leadership of Boko Haram will not determine the extent of their fight because now they have instructions from Syria or from Libya," said Adegboruwa.
    Shekau drew worldwide attention in 2014 after appearing in a series of macabre videos in which he threatened to sell some 200 abducted school girls as slaves.
    Nigeria's military has said on at least three occasions it had killed Shekau, or a man claiming to be him. Each time the leader has resurfaced to issue a fresh jihadist video, one of numerous videos the group has made.
    Boko Haram, a Sunni militant group, has killed thousands of people in Nigeria during a six-year insurgency to carve out an Islamic caliphate. It has also staged a series of recent cross- border attacks into Chad, Cameroon and Niger.
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