Chad president welcomes ‘complete’ departure of French forces

AFP
(From L to R) Chadian Foreign Minister Abderraman Koulamallah, Chadian Prime Minister Allamaye Halina, Chadian President Mahamat Idriss Deby, First Vice-President of the National Transition Council Ali Kolotou Tchaimi and Chief of Staff General of the Chadian Armed Forces (CEMGA ) Abakar Abdelkerim Daoud sit as they attend the ceremony marking the end of France’s presence in Chad and the Sahel at the Adji Kossei Air Base in N'Djamena on January 31, 2025. (AFP)
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  • Soldiers and fighter aircraft from France have been stationed in Chad almost continuously since the country’s independence in 1960, helping to train the Chadian military

N’DJAMENA: President Mahamat Idriss Deby on Friday welcomed the “definitive and complete departure” of French forces from Chad, which marks the end of France’s last foothold in the wider terrorist-hit Sahel region.
After a closed-door military ceremony a day earlier, Deby addressed Chadian forces and diplomats at an event in the capital, N’Djamena.
The handover of the Kossei base, the French army’s last such facility in the central African country, follows Chad’s surprise breaking off military cooperation with its former colonial ruler in late November.
“We are not breaking off our relationship with France, but we are ending the military dimension of this cooperation,” Deby said at the base where only the Chadian flag was flying.
Chad must build an “even stronger, better-equipped army” and “forge new alliances based on mutual respect and without losing sight of the demands of independence and sovereignty,” he added.
Soldiers and fighter aircraft from France have been stationed in Chad almost continuously since the country’s independence in 1960, helping to train the Chadian military.
The country had been a key link in France’s military presence in Africa.

 

 

Topics: chad