"Presence ended"

French leave last military base in Chad

The French soldiers are returning home.(Bild: APA/AFP/Joris Bolomey)

The withdrawal of the French army from Chad, which began last year, will now be completed these days. The handover of the last base to the government of the Central African state was announced on Thursday.

"The Kossei camp was handed back to the Chadian army today," announced French General Staff spokesman Guillaume Vernet on Thursday. For its part, the Chadian army's general staff declared: "The return of the Sergent Adij Kossei base in N'Djamena definitively ends the French presence in Chad."

The handover is to be completed in an official ceremony on Friday. The personnel and combat equipment have been transferred to France, leaving only containers on site, which, according to Vernet, will be brought back by private service providers by land and sea. 

Sahel zone: from 5000 soldiers to 0
Chad surprisingly terminated the defense agreement with France at the end of November. On December 26, Paris handed over the first army base to Chad. The country was the last in the Sahel region where French troops were still stationed. At the end of November 2022, 5,000 French soldiers were still stationed in the region in connection with an international military operation against Islamist groups.

Rapprochement with Russia
However, following government overthrows in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, the French became increasingly unwelcome, while the new rulers moved closer to Russia. Recently, Senegal, Gabon and the Ivory Coast (Cote d'Ivoire) also announced the withdrawal of the French from their territory. However, French President Emmanuel Macron calls this merely a "reorganization" of the troops.