France has started the withdrawalof its military from Chad after warplanes based in the capital N'Djamena headed home on Tuesday, the French army said, just two weeks after the local authorities said they were ending their defence cooperation, APA reports citing Reuters.
In a surprise move that caught French officials on the hop, the government of Chad - a key Western ally in the fight against Islamic militants in the region - on Nov. 28 abruptly ended its defence cooperation pact with France.
The modalities of that withdrawal and whether any French troops will remain in the central African country altogether have still be to agreed, but on Tuesday the first Mirage warplanes returned to their base in eastern France.
"It marks the beginning of the return of French equipment stationed in N'Djamena," Army spokesperson Colonel Guillaume Vernet said.
France has already pulled its soldiers out from Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, following military coups in those West African countries and spreading anti-French sentiment.
The departure from Chad marks the end of decades of French military presence in the Sahel region and more recently puts an end to direct French military operations against Islamist militants in the region.
France still has about 1,000 troops in Chad. Vernet said a calendar to drawdown its operations would still take several weeks to finalise between the two countries.
Follow us on Telegram
t.me/apanewsaz
Follow us on Instagram
Follow us on TikTok
Follow us on Facebook
Follow us on X
