France begins withdrawal from Chad, says French army
France has started the withdrawal of its military from Chad after warplanes based in the capital N’Djamena headed home on Tuesday, the French army said, just two weeks after the local authorities said they were ending their defense cooperation.
In a surprise move that caught French officials on the hop, the government of Chad on November 28 abruptly ended its defense cooperation pact with France.
The modalities of that withdrawal and whether any French troops will remain in the central African country altogether have still be agreed to.
“It marks the beginning of the return of French equipment stationed in N’Djamena,” Army spokesperson Colonel Guillaume Vernet said.
France has already pulled its soldiers out from Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, following military takeover in those West African countries.
The departure from Chad marks the end of decades of French military presence in the Sahel region and puts an end to direct French military operations against Islamist militants in the region.
France still has about 1,000 troops in Chad. Vernet said a calendar to drawdown its operations would still take several weeks to finalise between the two countries.
