The French army handed over its last base in Chad to the Chadian army on Thursday, the general staffs of both countries announced at a military ceremony marking the end of the historic French military presence in the Sahel region, AFP reports.
“The handover of the Sergent Adij Kossei base in N’Djamena definitively ends the French presence in Chad, in accordance with the will of the Chadian high authorities,” the Chadian army general staff said in a press release published on the eve of an official ceremony planned for Friday to mark this French withdrawal.
“The Kossei base was handed back today to the Chadian army,” said French army spokesman Colonel Guillaume Vernet.
Russia
Chad was France’s last anchor point in the African Sahel region, where the French army had over 5,000 soldiers as part of the anti-jihadist Barkhane operation, which ended at the end of November 2022.
Since then, four other former French colonies – Niger, Mali, the Central African Republic and Burkina Faso – have tightened relations with Russia and asked Paris to withdraw its troops from the territories of these countries, where France had a historical presence.
The only country in the Sahel that had not yet asked France to withdraw its soldiers was Chad, where about a thousand French soldiers were stationed, but in November this country also announced its surprising decision to break military agreements with France.
This was followed in December and January by the withdrawal of French fighter jets and the abandonment by French troops of the bases at Faya (in the northeast of the desert), at Abeche (in the east) and finally of the last base now returned to the Chadian army.
The authorities in N’Djamena stated on January 11 that the decision to break the military agreements with France is “imperative”, “irreversible”, “non-negotiable” and this will mark the “definitive departure of French forces” from Chad.
According to President Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno, in power since 2021, the cooperation agreements with France have become “completely outdated”, given the “political and geostrategic realities of our times”.
Senegal is next
Senegal is also negotiating the departure of French troops by the end of 2025. French military forces are currently being reduced in Ivory Coast and Gabon, in line with a plan by Paris to restructure the French presence in West and Central Africa.
France also has a military base in the Horn of Africa state of Djibouti, where about 1,500 soldiers are stationed, and which is not affected by this reduction in the French military presence on the African continent. Paris wants to make this base a “projection point” for missions in Africa, after the forced withdrawal of its troops from the Sahel.
