Departure should be as discreet as possible. Against the background of the general hostility of the coup plotters ruling in Niamey, the French General Staff tried to prevent the incident at all costs. And so that the scenario of the “Barkhane” convoy blocked in Téra in western Niger in November 2021 is repeated: three demonstrators who were protesting against the French military presence in the Sahel were killed.
Also listen to Niger, Burkina Faso, Mali: How France was driven out of the Sahel
After the Nigerian junta banned the French army from reaching the Beninese border, the soldiers and their equipment have been in transit through Chad since the official start of their evacuation on Tuesday, October 10th. Paris said as little as possible, the most precise information about the system came from Niamey. In a statement read on national television on Tuesday evening, the Nigerian military said that “three special flights” had been registered at the capital’s airport, two for the departure of “97 elements of the special forces” and one “for logistics”.
“The troops stationed in Ouallam [ouest] They left their base today, the junta said. These are operations for the departure of the first land convoy towards Chad, accompanied by our defense and security forces. » The journey promises to be long: 1,700 kilometers separate Niamey from N’Djamena.
General Daoud Yaya Brahim, Chadian Defense Minister, does not go into much detail about the modalities of these newcomers to his territory, citing “defense secrecy” while recalling that “France never asked us to host these soldiers” and that this “a long… “Constant reliable partner whose cooperation is based on a mutually beneficial bilateral agreement.”
An air base and two rights of way
According to this agreement and at the request of the Chadian authorities, according to the French Ministry of Defense, today a thousand French soldiers are stationed at the N’Djamena air base, to which are added the two areas of Abéché and Faya-Largeau. Its official mission is to educate and train the Chadian army, but France’s air support and intelligence sharing have proven time and again to provide crucial support to N’Djamena in the fight against rebel movements scattered throughout the territory.
Even if the relationship between Presidents Emmanuel Macron and Mahamat Idriss Déby appears to be good, the voices in Chad’s public opinion are becoming increasingly divided. Since the announcement of the French withdrawal from Niger, a press release has been circulating on social networks opposing the “relocation of the displaced French troops to Chad” and calling for the withdrawal of the troops already stationed in the country within three months. Its authors, who come from diaspora, civil society or minority opposition parties, say they are inspired by the “retreat of imperialist forces in the face of the will of Nigerian, Burkinabe and Malian patriots.”
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