This Thursday, the government of Chad broke the military cooperation agreements with France that protected the presence of a thousand French soldiers in this country, while the president of Senegal announced the closure of the French military base in Dakar. After being expelled from Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, these two announcements, which coincide in time, represent a new setback for the French military presence in Africa. Chad had become the last major French stronghold in the Sahel, while some 350 soldiers are positioned in Senegal. France currently has some 4,120 soldiers on the continent.
The Chadian Government announced this Thursday in a statement the breaking of the defense cooperation agreements with France. “This decision, adopted after in-depth analysis, marks a historic turn. Indeed, 66 years after the proclamation of the Republic, the time has come for Chad to affirm its full and total sovereignty and to redefine its strategic alliances based on its national priorities,” said Abderaman Koulamallah, government spokesperson, in the cited statement. The day was not chosen at random: November 28 commemorates the country’s independence from France, the country of which it was a colony.
Although the Chadian Government does not explain how the departure of the troops will occur or the schedule, the breaking of the defense agreements leaves no room for doubt. The announcement comes a few hours after the visit to Chad by Jean-Noël Barrot, French Foreign Minister, during which Koulamallah expressed that “France must understand from now on that Chad has grown and matured.” In any case, the authorities of the African country wanted to make it clear that their decision “does not in any way question the historical relations and ties of friendship between the two nations,” according to the statement, and they call for “a harmonious transition” and exploring new cooperation mechanisms.
Chad had become the last refuge of the French troops of Operation Barkhane expelled from Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso, although its troops had been reduced to a thousand. Almost all soldiers are positioned at the air base in N’Djamena, the capital, but there is also a French presence at two bases in Abéché, to the east, and in Faya-Largeau, to the north. The upcoming withdrawal of these troops will leave Paris without a military presence in the Sahel region.
In the case of Senegal, it was President Bassirou Diomaye Faye who declared, in an interview with AFP (Agence France-Presse), that France will have to close its military bases in this country, although he did not specify a specific timetable. “Senegal is an independent country, a sovereign country, and sovereignty is not compatible with the presence of military bases (…) Does that mean rupture? No,” Faye said in the aforementioned interview. “France enslaved, colonized and stayed. “If the roles are reversed, they will consider it very difficult for another country to have a military base in France (…) There is still no deadline (…) if it has to be done, it will be communicated to the French authorities,” he added.
The moment chosen by Faye is not coincidental either. His party, Patriots of Senegal for Work, Ethics and Fraternity (Pastef), which defines itself as “left-wing Pan-Africanist”, won 130 of 165 deputies in the legislative elections on November 17. Since his birth, Pastef has maintained a hostile discourse towards French policy in Africa and the expulsion of the troops was a highly anticipated issue by his electorate. Furthermore, it occurs just three days before the commemoration of the 80th anniversary of the Thiaroye massacre, when 35 African soldiers were murdered at a military base on the outskirts of Dakar for demanding payment of their salaries for their participation in World War II. World.
The 350 French soldiers in Senegal are positioned in two locations in Dakar, one in the Ouakam neighborhood and the other in the port. They also have a stopover at Léopold Sédar Senghor airport and a high-frequency broadcasting station in Rufisque, on the outskirts of the city. Its main mission is the formation and training of the Senegalese Army and other countries such as Mauritania, Benin or Guinea-Bissau in the West African region, according to the French Ministry of Defense.
Before these announcements, France was already planning to significantly reduce its military weight in Africa, although it hoped to maintain its presence in Chad and Senegal. The expulsion of its soldiers from Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, where the ruling military junta opted for Russia as its main ally in defense and security, intensified a profound review of the presence of French soldiers on the continent promoted by President Emmanuel Macron . Chad has also improved its relations with Moscow in recent years, but until now had decided to maintain its agreements with Paris.
France currently has about 4,120 soldiers in Africa. Its main base is in Djibouti, with about 1,500 soldiers, followed by Chad, where a thousand remain. In West Africa, the Ivory Coast is the most important country, with 900 troops ready to intervene in this region or in Central Africa and distributed in two points, Port-Bouët and the Félix Houphouët-Boigny international airport. Finally, there are the 350 soldiers cited in Senegal and another 370 in Libreville, the capital of Gabon.
