For now, Damask is deserted, its population of 200,000 having been dispersed or killed. And there are no Nigerian soldiers anywhere in sight, the report said.
Boko Haram fighters may be fleeing from several locations in northeastern Nigeria, but it may not be at the hands of the Nigerian Army.
In a major story on Friday, said only Chadian and Nigerien soldiers, who liberated the area from Boko Haram, are on the ground with no Nigerian soldiers to take it over from them despite being asked.
Damask, on the border with Niger but close to Cameroon, was a regional headquarters for the militants.
The New York Times reporter was part of a small group of journalists the Chadians ushered around the area to look at their accomplishment, of which they are very proud. It is unclear whether any Nigerian journalists were in the group.
For now, Damask is deserted, its population of 200,000 having been dispersed or killed. And there are no Nigerian soldiers anywhere in sight, the report said.
“Hundreds of miles away in N’Djamena, the capital of Chad, officials are expressing anger at the near-total absence of cooperation from the Nigerians in a crucial regional battle, even as Nigerian officials are discounting the extent of Chad’s role.
“The disquiet of the Chadian officials was echoed in the words of the front-line Chadian soldiers here who wonder why they, and not the Nigerians, are holding towns like Damasak, several days after the last Boko Haram fighter has fled or been killed.”
A Second Lt. Mohammed Hassan discussed his Nigerian colleagues saying, “We asked them to come, to receive this town from us, but they have not come.”
And he had an explanation why: “It is because they are afraid,” he told the reporters.
The report said the brief tour of Damask offered a rare glimpse into Boko Haram’s northern Nigerian stronghold, and into the dimensions, and difficulties, of a cross-border, four-nation fight against the Islamists.
LINK TO FULL STORY BELOW:
http://nyti.ms/1FMXy5g