Chad to end military cooperation with France

French soldiers will have to depart the Central African nation as a result of Chad's announcement that it is terminating its defence cooperation pact with the former colonial power France. 

France is "an essential partner," according to Foreign Minister Abderaman Koulamallah, but it "must now also consider that Chad has grown up, matured, and is a sovereign state that is very jealous of its sovereignty." Hours after French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot's arrival, the news was made on Thursday. 

In the past, Chad has worked closely with the military forces of Western countries, but in recent years, it has become closer to Russia.

The decision to end the agreement, which was updated in 2019, will allow the nation to rethink its strategic alliances, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 

Approximately 1,000 French soldiers and aeroplanes are presently stationed in Chad, the final Sahelian nation to receive French forces. 

Over the past two years, military coups in Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso have compelled France to withdraw its soldiers. 

Koulamallah did not specify when the French forces would leave. Following a meeting between Barrot and President Mahamat Idriss Deby, who has pushed for deeper ties with Russia, he was giving a news briefing on Thursday.

“The government of the Republic of Chad informs national and international opinion of its decision to end the accord in the field of defence signed with the French republic,” Koulamallah said in a statement on Facebook.

After serving as an interim leader under military rule for three years, Deby was inaugurated in as president in May. Since a coup in the early 1990s, Idriss Deby, his father, had been in charge of Chad. 

Russia's Wagner Group paramilitary forces are present in the Central African Republic, Sudan, Libya, and Niger, all of which border landlocked Chad.

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