Sahel, French troops leave Chad, end of military presence in the region

30 Gennaio 2025

(Adnkronos) – French troops are also leaving Chad. The French Armed Forces handed over the last base in the country to local authorities during a military ceremony held in N’Djamena after Chad pulled out of the security and defense cooperation agreement with Paris in recent months. 

“The Kossei air base in N’Djamena was handed back today and is officially the end of the permanent presence of the Armed Forces in Chad,” reads a post on X by the French General Staff, which speaks of an “orderly and safe withdrawal in coordination with the Chadian authorities” and “a new step in the reconfiguration of the (French) military apparatus in Africa”. 

The Chadian Army General Staff stressed – as reported by the Alwihda news website – how today marks “the definitive end of the presence of French forces in Chad, in line with the will of the authorities” and “of the Chadian people”. 

The withdrawal of French troops began at the end of December. The N’Djamena base is the third handed back by French forces after the December 26 withdrawal from a base in the north (Faya-Largeau) and the January 11 handover of the base in Abeche. 

It all started when Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno, the de facto ‘general-president’ in power since the death of his father in 2021 in a country of about 18 million people, broke the defense agreement with Paris, considered “obsolete”, asking for the withdrawal of French troops from Chad and claiming the will to “reorient” relations with Paris without wanting to “replace one power with another”. A reference to Russia, to which the military juntas of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger have moved closer, which have broken agreements with Paris, left the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) and created the Alliance the Sahel States (Aes). 

 

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