N’Djamena breaks its defense cooperation agreement with France – Libération

The last home to French military forces in the Sahel will close its doors to them. Chad, Paris' last anchor point in the region after the forced withdrawals of its troops in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, announced Thursday, November 28, through its Chadian Minister of Foreign Affairs Abderaman Koulamallah, “its decision to terminate the defense cooperation agreement signed with the French Republic”. An announcement which comes a few hours after the end of the visit of his French counterpart Jean-Noël Barrot.

Paris, “an essential partner”

At the end of the meeting with the head of French diplomacy, the official had already suggested that it was time for France to “consider now that Chad has grown, has matured and that Chad is a sovereign State and very jealous of its sovereignty”. While recalling that Paris remained “an essential partner” from N’Djamena. Last May, three years of transition ended in N'Djamena with the election of Mahamat Idriss Déby Itno, brought to power by a military junta after the death of his father Idriss Déby, killed by rebels at the front. The latter was able to count on the support of the French army to repel rebel offensives, notably in 2008 and 2019.

“It’s not a break with France like the f or elsewhere,” wanted to reassure Abderaman Koulamallah, contacted by telephone by AFP, while the country still hosts around a thousand French soldiers. “Chad, in accordance with the provisions of the agreement, undertakes to respect the terms provided for its termination, including the notice period,” specifies the ministerial press release, which does not mention a date for withdrawal of French troops.

The war in Sudan, a guarantee of strengthened relations

“After 66 years of the proclamation of the Republic of Chad, it is time for Chad to assert its full sovereignty, and to redefine its strategic partnerships according to national priorities,” continued the minister, assuring that Jean-Noël Barrot's visit had also made it possible to strengthen bilateral relations “at all levels”. And mainly humanitarian. The French minister was in fact going to Chad to take stock of the crisis caused by the neighboring war in Sudan. Alongside the Chadian minister, he visited the Saudi refugee camps in Adré, from where he announced additional aid from France of 7 million euros to help humanitarian organizations.

He also urged the belligerents in Sudan to cease their hostilities and invited “foreign powers allied with the belligerents to stop adding fuel to the fire” by providing them with weapons. He did not mention any country other than Russia. But the United Arab Emirates are accused of supplying weapons to the paramilitaries of the Rapid Support Forces (FSR), and Chad of supporting them by allowing weapons to transit through its territory.

On Monday, Emmanuel Macron's personal envoy to Africa, Jean-Marie Bockel, submitted to the French president his report on the reconfiguration of the French military system in Africa, which advocates a partnership “renewed” et “co-constructed”, according to the Elysée. Contacted by AFP, Jean-Noël Barrot has not yet reacted to the Chadian announcement, nor has the Ministry of the Armed Forces.