The announcement came as a bolt from the blue in N'Djamena. In a press release issued on Thursday, November 28, a few hours after French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot's visit to Chad ended, the Chadian government declared that it was "putting an end to the defense cooperation agreement signed with the French Republic."
The announcement took all observers by surprise, even though the French minister and his entourage gave no indication of their reaction after their meeting with Chad's president, Mahamat Idriss Déby. "France must henceforth consider that Chad has grown up and matured, that Chad is a sovereign state and very jealous of its sovereignty," said the Chadian foreign minister, Abderaman Koulamallah, at the end of a joint statement which was mainly devoted to the Sudanese civil war.
When contacted by Le Monde that evening, the Chadian foreign minister said that the meeting had taken place without incident, that the decision had been "carefully considered," and that the choice of date was no coincidence, as November 28 marks the 66th anniversary of the proclamation of the Republic of Chad.
Koulamallah did not specify whether the decision was a unilateral one, or if it had been made in consultation with the French authorities – who, by Friday morning, had not yet commented on the announcement. It comes against a backdrop of increasing uncertainty for the future of France's military presence in Africa. On the same day, the Senegalese president, Bassirou Diomaye Faye, declared in an interview with Le Monde that "there will soon be no more French soldiers" in his country. In recent years, the French army has been successively driven out of Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger after a series of coup d'états by juntas hostile to Paris. Chad, however, has differentiated itself from these Sahel region countries, by stating that "this decision in no way challenges the historic relations and friendly ties between the two nations." Indeed, the Chadian communiqué leaves the door open to "constructive dialogue to explore new forms of partnership."
This is no less of a harsh blow for France, as Chad was its last ally in the Sahel and a final bulwark against the growing influence of Russia, which has deployed paramilitary forces in several neighboring countries. Following the shock caused by the Chadian president's visit to Moscow in January, where he was received by his counterpart, Vladimir Putin, Emmanuel Macron had tried to warm up relations with N'Djamena by sending his "personal envoy" for the reconfiguration of France's military presence on the continent, Jean-Marie Bockel. Bockel declared his "admiration" for the Chadian transition, and said of French troops in Chad: "We must stay, and of course we will stay." On Monday, Bockel submitted his report to the president, recommending a reduction in the number of troops deployed on the continent, including in Chad.
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