Following N’Djamena’s unexpected termination of military cooperation with the former colonial power last month, the French defense ministry announced this on Friday.
A group of 120 soldiers has already departed the African country and returned home to France, the ministry said in a statement on Facebook.
Ten days have passed since French jet planes permanently departed the Sahel nation.
France’s military presence in Africa and its final footing in the larger Sahel region were mostly dependent on Chad.
Following several military takeovers, the French had already been driven from Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger.
On November 28, 2024, Chad declared its intention to terminate a longstanding defence accord with Paris.
“An Airbus A330 Phoenix MRTT carrying 120 French soldiers departed the military airport of N’Djamena at noon, bound for France,” the ministry posted on Facebook.
With about 1,000 soldiers in the nation, the French army did not immediately respond to the news.
According to the statement, the fact that French soldiers left Friday in front of Chadian military officials “testifies to the intensity of cooperation between the two countries in the field of security.”
On January 29, 2025, three Sahelian countries ruled by military juntas—Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger—will formally leave the Economic Community of West African States, or ECOWAS.
The decision, delivered during the 66th Ordinary Session of the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government in Abuja, shows widening splits within the regional bloc.
