Chadian President: Why Shekau is elusive

Chadian President Idriss Deby says arresting the leader of the Boko Haram terrorist group has been difficult because Nigerian and Chadian armies are not undertaking joint operations. The Chadian president stated this at the Aso Rock Presidential Villa in Abuja on Monday when he visited President Goodluck Jonathan. Speaking to State House journalists after holding […]

Chadian President Idriss Deby says arresting the leader of the Boko Haram terrorist group has been difficult because Nigerian and Chadian armies are not undertaking joint operations.
The Chadian president stated this at the Aso Rock Presidential Villa in Abuja on Monday when he visited President Goodluck Jonathan.
Speaking to State House journalists after holding a closed-door meeting with Jonathan, Deby regretted that both countries’ armies were separately prosecuting the anti-terrorist war.
He argued that if Nigerian and Chadian soldiers had launched joint operations against the insurgents, more results could have, perhaps, been achieved. 
He was responding to a question on whether he actually knew the whereabouts of the sect’s leader, Abubakar Shekau, as he (Deby) recently claimed.
‎He said: “It is regrettable that the two armies; that is, the Nigerian army and the Chadian army are working separately in the field. They are not undertaking joint operations. If they were operating joint operations, probably, they would have achieved more results”. 
Deby, however, parried a question on the whereabouts of the Boko Haram commander, saying “I cannot tell you today that I know where Shekau is hiding, ‎and even if I know, I won’t tell you”.
The Chadian president had, at a news conference in N’djamena on March 5, said: “Abubakar Shekau must surrender. We know where he is. If he doesn’t give himself up, he’ll suffer the same fate as his compatriots”.
On Monday, he also said though the Boko Haram insurgents had been tremendously weakened, the sect was yet to be completely eradicated.
“It is true Boko Haram has not been completely eradicated, ‎but they have been tremendously weakened,” said the visiting president.
Deby explained that since Jonathan would soon leave office, he visited him so that they could review their achievements in the fight against the Boko Haram terrorist group.

He left to have a meeting with President Elect Muhammadu Buhari.