Chad breaks its defense agreements with France, a snub for Paris

The announcement had the effect of a clap of thunder in the night in N'Djamena. In a press release published on Thursday, November 28, a few hours after the end of the visit to Chad by the French Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jean-Noël Barrot, the Chadian government declared “end the defense cooperation agreement signed with the French Republic”.

The announcement takes all observers by surprise, while the minister and his entourage left nothing to show after their meeting with President Mahamat Idriss Déby. “France must now consider that Chad has grown and matured, that Chad is a sovereign state and very jealous of its sovereignty,” simply indicated his Chadian counterpart Abderaman Koulamallah at the conclusion of a joint declaration essentially devoted to the Sudanese civil war.

Joined by The World in the evening, the head of Chadian diplomacy assured that the meeting took place without incident, that it was a decision “carefully considered” and that the choice of the date owes nothing to chance since November 28 marks the 66^e anniversary of the proclamation of the Republic in Chad.

Mr. Koulamallah did not specify whether this was a unilateral decision or taken in consultation with the French authorities – who had not yet reacted early Friday morning. The announcement comes in an increasingly uncertain context for the future of the French military presence in Africa. The same day, Senegalese President Bassirou Diomaye Faye declared in an interview with Monde that he “soon there will be no more French soldiers” in his country. In recent years, the French army has been successively driven out of Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger after a series of coups and the coming to power of juntas hostile to Paris. Chad, however, stands out from these Sahelian countries by ensuring that “this decision in no way calls into question the historical relations and bonds of friendship between the two nations.” The Chadian communiqué leaves the door open to a “constructive dialogue to explore new forms of partnership”.

The last ally in the Sahel

The blow nonetheless remains hard for France, even though Chad was its last ally in the Sahel and a final bulwark against the growing influence of Russia, which has deployed paramilitary forces in several border countries. Following the shock caused by the Chadian president's visit in January to Moscow, where he was received by his counterpart Vladimir Putin, Emmanuel Macron tried to warm up his relations with N'Djamena by sending his “personal envoy” there. for the reconfiguration of the French military system on the continent, Jean-Marie Bockel. The latter then declared his « admiration » for the Chadian transition, and assured regarding the French troops in Chad: “We must stay, and of course we will stay.” On Monday, Mr. Bockel submitted to the president his report which recommends reducing the number of soldiers deployed on the continent, including in Chad.

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