Chad, a long-standing Western counterterrorism ally in central Africa, has now reportedly announced the termination of its military relations with France.
This marks the latest country in the troubled Sahel region to sever its military ties with its former colonial power in response to the increasing anti-French sentiment.
The unexpected announcement was made in the final hours of Chad’s Republic Day celebrations on Thursday, just one day after France’s foreign minister, Jean-Noël Barrot, conferred with his Chadian counterpart in the capital, N’Djamena.
The French troops, who have been providing the Chadian military with training, logistics, aerial surveillance, and intelligence in its struggle against jihadists and various rebel groups, are expected to depart the country. Approximately 1,000 French troops are currently stationed in the country.
Requests for comment were not responded to by France’s foreign ministry.
Protests against France’s ongoing presence have occurred in Chad, as well as in other former French colonies in the region. In May, hundreds of demonstrators marched through N’Djamena and other cities, accusing Paris of supporting the regime of President Mahamat Déby.
Before being dispersed by Chadian police, protesters vandalized gas stations operated by TotalEnergies, a French energy company, and torched French flags.
Earlier this year, French President Emmanuel Macron announced a revision of France’s military posture in Africa.
According to French defense officials, that strategy envisaged the potential transfer of certain military bases to local authorities and the reduction of soldiers in Senegal, Gabon, the Ivory Coast, and Chad.
However, the officials stated that France’s objective was to preserve a lower-profile military presence in the region, which included its base near N’Djamena, in order to preserve direct access to the airport.
In the past two years, military juntas in Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger have expelling French personnel and instead establishing alliances with Moscow.
This includes the hiring of Russian mercenaries to train or, in the case of Mali, support their own soldiers in combat.
Chadian troops have been more effective in suppressing a jihadist insurgency that has spread throughout the Sahel, a semiarid region located south of the Sahara, than those of other countries.
However, they have been the victims of numerous lethal attacks by suspected combatants from Boko Haram, an Islamist organization, in recent weeks.
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