The French army has handed over its last military base near Chad’s capital N’Djamena to the country’s authorities following a military ceremony.
Pascal Ianni, head of French Armed Forces’ Africa Command, said on January 30: “The transfer of the [Adji] Kossei base today marks a new stage. It is part of the French decision to end permanent [military] bases in Central and West Africa.
”This structural change is necessary to adapt to the evolution of the world and the evolution of Africa. We are reaffirming our partnerships in a dynamic Africa whose youth carries a lot of hope.
“We must act differently,” he added.
France had already passed its other military bases to the Chadian army.
France controlled Chad from 1900 until the country’s independence in 1960.
In recent years, Paris’ “Francafrique” influence on the continent has declined, with a string of other countries also requiring the French military to pull out.
Abakar Abdelkerim Daoud, the Chadian army’s Chief of Staff, said: “I thank the [Chad] Minister of Foreign Affairs, who gives us the opportunity to make this dream a reality.
“I announce to you today that the work of the French army is coming to an end and the Chadian army is capable of taking over the role that the French army plays in Chad.”
The African country’s administration had announced at the end of November it would end military co-operation with France. In December, French forces began to leave the country.
The Chadian authorities had stated its January 31 deadline for the French withdrawal was “non-negotiable”.
Regarding the French military presence, Chad’s President Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno said the co-operation agreements with France had become “completely obsolete” in light of “the political and geo-strategic realities of our time”.
The nation had been an important element of France’s military presence in Africa and was effectively its last stronghold in the Sahel region.
In the past 10 years, France has been essentially evicted from more than 70 per cent of the African countries in which it had a military presence.
Since 2022, Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso all effectively expelled French forces, on occasion opting for Russian mercenaries to fight Islamists rebels and other opposition instead.
Ivory Coast and Gabon have also been reducing French military presences there, while Senegal is negotiating a similar French withdrawal.
