• Cameroon and Chad signed a new military cooperation agreement on September 23 to strengthen joint operations against rebels and jihadist groups.

• Both countries face overlapping security threats, including Boko Haram, ISWAP, separatist conflicts, and Chadian rebel groups.

• According to the Global Fire Power Index, Chad ranks 12th and Cameroon 16th among African military powers.

Cameroon and Chad signed a defense cooperation agreement on September 23, according to a statement from Cameroon’s Defense Ministry.

The deal was signed in the presence of Cameroon’s Defense Minister Joseph Beti Assomo and his Chadian counterpart Issakha Malloua Djamous. Authorities said the agreement “falls within a framework of collective security, the fight against cross-border threats, and the strengthening of operational capacities between the Cameroonian and Chadian armed forces.”

Both states face persistent security challenges. Cameroon continues to grapple with the separatist crisis in its Anglophone Northwest and Southwest regions, while its Far North remains vulnerable to attacks by Boko Haram and Islamic State in West Africa Province (ISWAP). Authorities also face problems of cross-border crime.

Chad confronts rebel offensives, particularly from the Front for Change and Concord in Chad (FACT), and endures repeated jihadist incursions around Lake Chad.

Both countries are members of the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF), reactivated in 2015 to combat Boko Haram and ISWAP. Chad, which maintains one of the strongest armies in the Sahel, threatened in 2024 to withdraw from the coalition after an attack on its Barkaram base near Lake Chad killed about 40 soldiers.

According to the Global Fire Power Index, Chad ranks 12th among African military powers, while Cameroon holds 16th place.

This article was initially published in French by Moutiou Adjibi Nourou

Adapted in English by Ange Jason Quenum