The government of Chad announced on Thursday it has canceled its military cooperation pact with France, its former colonial ruler.
The decision, which took observers in both Chad and France by surprise, means the roughly 1,000 French troops stationed in Chad will have to withdraw.
The Chadian government did not set a date for evicting French forces but said it would “respect the modalities of the termination including the necessary deadlines, and will collaborate with French authorities to ensure a harmonious transition.”
“This is not a break with France like Niger or elsewhere,” Chad’s Foreign Minister Abderaman Koulamallah said in a statement posted to Facebook.
Koulamallah said France remains an “essential partner,” but the French “must now also consider that Chad has grown up, matured and is a sovereign state that is very jealous of its sovereignty.”
November 28 marked the 66th anniversary of the proclamation of the Republic of Chad, the date on which it became an autonomous republic instead of a French colonial possession. The day is celebrated as a public holiday across the country.
The move is a strategic disaster for France, which will lose its last base of operations in the terrorist-plagued Sahel region of Africa. French forces were previously expelled from Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger.
On the other hand, it could represent an opportunity for Russia, which has been looking to expand its economic, diplomatic, and military presence in Africa. All of Chad’s neighbors – the Central African Republic (CAR), Sudan, Libya, and Niger – are now hosting mercenary troops from Russia’s infamous Wagner Group, which became a state-run paramilitary force after its founders died, presumably from an acute case of disagreeing with Vladimir Putin, in August 2023.
President Mahamat Deby made overtures to Russia last year, prompting analysts to wonder if he was planning a serious pivot to Moscow, or was hoping to play Russia and France against each other to get better deals from both for Chad.
France’s Le Monde on Friday described the termination of the Chad-France military pact as a “bolt from the blue” in the capitals of both countries, and a “slap in the face for Paris.”
Le Monde noted the complete absence of public comment from anyone in the French government, including Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot, who had only just arrived in Chad for a visit and seemed completely blindsided by the announcement. It was not clear if French officials were consulted in any way about the decision to end the military agreement.
Chad’s surprise announcement seemed like a forceful rebuke to French President Emmanuel Macron’s attempts at diplomacy after Deby alarmed Paris by paying a surprise visit to Moscow in January for meetings with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Macron dispatched his “personal envoy,” Jean-Marie Bockel, to Chad after the January meeting. Bockel missed no opportunity to declare his admiration for Chad and its success as an independent republic – even though Deby is technically an unelected dictator who seized power after the death of his father in 2021 and has no plans to end his “transitional” government before 2026.
“We must stay, and of course we will stay,” Bockel said of France’s military presence. As recently as this Monday, he filed a report to Macron recommending a modest reduction in troops deployed to Chad, seemingly unaware that the French were about to be evicted completely.
Ulf Laessing, head of the Sahel program for the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, told the Associated Press (AP) on Friday that Chad’s President Deby does not like the French, and he especially dislikes their current president.
“Deby has been seeking to diversify its security partnerships away from exclusive deals. He doesn’t trust Macron,” Laessing said. “He can also not ignore widespread anti-French sentiment.”
France received more bad news on Thursday from Senegal, whose President Bassirou Diomaye Faye told Agence France-Presse (AFP) it was no longer “appropriate” for France to keep troops on his country’s soil, and it was “obvious” they would soon be asked to leave.
“Senegal is an independent country, it is a sovereign country and sovereignty does not accept the presence of military bases in a sovereign country,” he said.
“It’s not because the French have been there since the slavery period that it’s impossible to do otherwise,” Faye said ominously.
Chad and Niger both expelled American forces in April 2024. Chad’s action came as an even bigger surprise to the hapless Biden administration than its action against France. Chad terminated its Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) with the United States by having the Chadian air force chief of staff simply deliver a short handwritten note to an American defense official.