United Nations headquarters

UN Deputy Secretary-General, Amina Mohammed, has tasked Chadian women to counter the destructive activities of Boko Haram terrorists.

Mohammed arrived in Chad in a joint visit with the African Union and the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Sweden, Margot Wallström.

Their visit would highlight women’s meaningful participation in peace, security and development with an additional focus on climate security and the Sahel.

They travelled to Bol, north of N’Djamena, where they met with communities adapting to climate change and also met with religious, youth and women’s groups.

In those meetings, she emphasised the important role women played in Chad to counter the challenges of Boko Haram and violent extremism, according to the News Agency of Nigeria, NAN.

Mohammed met with a young woman who had been forced by Boko Haram to become a suicide bomber, and the bomb exploded prematurely and she lost both legs.

The deputy UN chief said the woman, who now works to sensitise other young women and girls against radicalism and extreme violence, had moved from “victim to survivor”.

She also discussed climate change and poor land management, with local people saying they contributed to desertification in the Lake Chad Basin, which is home to 50 million people.