Chad’s President Idriss Deby announces location of Boko Haram leader

President Idriss Deby of Chad has informed the media during a press conference that the Chad military and government has narrowed down the location of al-Qaeda-linked Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau.

According to President Deby, he (Shekau), was in the northeast Nigerian town of Dikwa two days ago. He managed to get away but, the Chad military know where he is. “It is in his interest to surrender,” Deby said.

President Deby added that “‎Abubakar Shekau must surrender. If he does not give himself up he will suffer the same fate as his compatriots.”

Chad’s military has been part of an African transnational military campaign against the Boko Haram insurgency originating from northeast Nigeria, and has been the target of the groups’s violence in the past.

The development comes as the one year anniversary of the mass abduction of 250 girls from Chibok, Nigeria nears.

Boko Haram has been responsible for the death of thousands of people, mostly from Nigeria’s northeastern states of Adamawa, Borno, and Yobe. The threat of violence from Boko Haram has resulted in the postponement of Nigeria’s presidential elections.

Neither the Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan or any other government official have commented on the Chadian president’s statements.