What are Moscow and Ndjamena cooking?
They arrived discreetly on an Ethiopian Airlines flight. Some 130 Russian soldiers landed in N’Djamena this Sunday. According to sources cited by “Tchad One” which posted the information on its X page, “the men who landed yesterday are members of the former Wagner paramilitary group, renamed Africa Corps”. A landing which comes a few days after the announcement of the upcoming withdrawal from the country of 75 American military trainers. But also a week before the general elections scheduled in Chad on May 6. Chad is only the last of the African countries in the Sahel zone in which we observe a gradual penetration of Russian influence, coinciding with the withdrawal of the French and, now, also American presence. In recent weeks, it has been the turn of Niger, the scene like its neighbors Mali, Burkina Faso and Guinea of a coup d’état which brought a pro-Russian military junta to power. Indeed, on April 10, Russian military instructors arrived in Niamey, where they were seen unloading equipment from a cargo plane, including an air defense system.
The strengthening of cooperation between Russia, Niger and now Chad is anything but a surprise. Neighbors Mali and Burkina Faso, with whom Niger formed the Alliance of Sahel States (AES), have in fact been displaying their partnership with Moscow for several months. The arrival of Russian instructors in Niamey and N’Djamena also follows recent announcements by the two military juntas of wanting to suspend military cooperation first with France, then with the United States.
What objective does this rapprochement between the Chadian junta and the Russian paramilitary group pursue a few days before the presidential election? This is the main question being asked.
