Chad created on Wednesday a special commission responsible for piloting the denunciation of the military agreement between Paris and N’Djamena, with an “orderly withdrawal of bilateral commitments”, without specifying a deadline.
This commission, chaired by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, has the mission “to officially notify the denunciation of the military cooperation agreement (….) to the French authorities through diplomatic channels”, according to an order signed by the Prime Minister .
It will have to “develop a work plan for the cessation of the obligations provided for by the convention, identify and manage (its) legal, security and logistical aspects” but also “coordinate with the French partner to guarantee an orderly withdrawal of bilateral commitments”, according to the same source.
The commission will define its work schedule during its first meeting, the date of which is not known, according to information obtained by AFP. The termination period is six months from notification, according to the agreement of which AFP has had a copy.
Chad, the last Sahelian country to host French forces, announced on November 28 its decision to end the security and defense agreements which had linked it to France since the end of the colonial era.
This decision taken in the name of “sovereignty” after “a careful assessment” was announced a few hours after a visit by the head of French diplomacy Jean-Noël Barrot. His surprise announcement took Paris by surprise, which took “note” while awaiting a “dialogue for implementation”.
“This decision to break does not in any way constitute a rejection of international cooperation nor a questioning of our diplomatic relations with France,” the Chadian president then assured, while specifying that it was not a question of “a logic of replacing one power by another”.
Chad currently hosts a thousand French soldiers on three bases. This presence is perceived as an “element of support for the regime in place, disinclined to promote democratic progress”, according to an analysis by the Institute of International and Strategic Relations (IRIS), a French think tank.
Still in political transition since the coup d’état which brought General Deby to power in 2020 before its legitimization by a contested presidential election last April, Chad is currently suffering attacks from the jihadist group Boko Haram in the northwest, hosts an influx of refugees from neighboring Sudan is absorbing the damage of an unprecedented rainy season which has displaced more than 2 million people.
The rupture announced by Chad comes after the forced withdrawal of French troops from Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, to which is now added a wish to close the bases recently expressed by the new Senegalese president Bassirou Diomaye Faye.
