French fighter planes based in Chad for decades began to take off on December 10, 2024 from N’Djamena, triggering the movement to withdraw the French army from the country after the termination of the defense agreement by Chad, a we learned from French sources close to the matter.
Two Mirage 2000Ds accompanied by a tanker plane took off shortly before 12:30 GMT, according to one of these sources.
A third aircraft was yet to take off, she said.
« The presence of this detachment is no longer justified after termination of the agreement » defense, denounced on November 28 by the Chadian authorities, according to another French source.
« France is closing the fighter plane detachment at the Kossei air base in N’Djamena. The French army decides to withdraw its planes“, she added.
Chad was a key link in the French military presence in Africa, constituting Paris’ last foothold in the Sahel after the forced withdrawals of its troops in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger.
The departure of the Mirages is the consequence of Chad’s announcement, on the anniversary of its independence on November 28, to end the security and defense agreements which linked the two countries.
Until then, Paris deployed nearly 1,000 soldiers in Chad on several military bases, a system which was to be reduced as part of a reconfiguration of the French military presence in Senegal, Ivory Coast and Chad for which the Emmanuel Macron’s personal envoy to Africa, Jean-Marie Bockel, had been responsible for consulting the different countries.
French combat planes have been stationed in Chad, almost continuously since independence in 1960, serving for the training and training of Chadian soldiers but also for air support, allowing on several occasions to stop rebel advances seeking to seize power.
With AFP
