Worthy Christian News > World News > Chad Struggles to Fight Increasingly Entrenched Islamic Jihadism

Chad Struggles to Fight Increasingly Entrenched Islamic Jihadism

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – The north-central African country of Chad is struggling to fight the increasingly strong presence of jihadist terrorists in its midst, the US State Department has reported. Most of the terrorism in Chad is perpetrated by the Boko Haram Islamic extremist insurgency group that is also active in the neighboring countries of Sudan, the Central African Republic, Cameroon, Libya, Nigeria, and Niger.

While Chad has a Muslim government, the country’s High Council of Islamic Affairs has “promoted peaceful coexistence and tolerance, and diverse faith groups used the Dialogue to mitigate conflict,” the US State Department said in a recent report on the situation.

Nevertheless, the US State Department said, “Security forces and basic government services remained underresourced, which limited the Chadian government’s ability to address all security concerns.”

In a report confirming the prevalence of Islamic terror in Chad, the Open Doors international Christian advocacy group notes that Chad’s vulnerability and volatile security situation poses special problems for Christians in the country.

“In this context, being a Christian carries various risks. In areas where Islam is the predominant religion, individuals converting to Christianity face significant danger and often practice their faith clandestinely to avoid violent backlash from their family or community,” Open Doors said.