France has begun withdrawing its military forces from Chad, with two warplanes based in the capital, N’Djamena, leaving the country, according to the French army. This comes two weeks after Chad announced it was ending its defence cooperation pact with Paris.
In a surprise move, the government of Chad, a key Western ally in the fight against Islamist militants in the region, decided to terminate the defence agreement on November 28.
The terms and conditions for the full withdrawal of French forces and whether any troops will remain in the central African nation have not yet been finalised. However, on Tuesday, the first Mirage warplanes returned to their base in eastern France.
“This marks the beginning of the return of French equipment stationed in N’Djamena,” said Army spokesperson Colonel Guillaume Vernet after the departure of the two Mirage fighter jets.
France had already pulled its military presence out of Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger following military coups and growing anti-French sentiment in those West African countries. The pullout from Chad will end decades of French military presence in the Sahel region and conclude direct French operations against Islamist militants there.
France still has around 1,000 troops in Chad. Vernet stated that a timeline for reducing French operations would take several more weeks for the two countries to finalize.
Chad’s Army spokesperson, Chanane Issakha Acheikh, confirmed the departure of the French warplanes and assured the public would be kept informed throughout the withdrawal process “until the definitive departure of the (French) forces.”
While there were no indications that Paris was given prior notice of Chad’s decision to end the defence pact, a French envoy to President Emmanuel Macron had submitted a report last month with proposals on how France could scale back its military presence in Chad, Gabon, and Ivory Coast.
