France has begun withdrawing its military from Chad, with two warplanes departing from the capital N’Djamena.
N’Djamena is the largest city of Chad, a landlocked country located at the crossroads of North and Central Africa.
“It marks the beginning of the return of French equipment stationed in N’Djamena,” Army spokesperson Colonel Guillaume Vernet said after two Mirage fighter jets left Chad.
Two weeks ago, Chad had announced that it was ending its defence cooperation pact with Paris.
In a surprise move, the government of Chad – an ally of the West in the fight against Islamist militants in the region – ended the defence cooperation pact on November 28.
Terms and conditions of the withdrawal and whether any French troops will remain in the central African country altogether have yet be to agreed.
Notably, the first Mirage warplanes returned to their base in eastern France, on Tuesday.
‘France has already pulled its soldiers out of Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger following military coups in those West African countries and spreading anti-French sentiment.
The departure from Chad will end decades of French military presence in the Sahel region and end direct French military operations against Islamist militants there.
France still has about 1,000 troops in Chad.
Vernet said that a calendar to draw down its operations would still take several weeks for the two countries to finalise.
Chad’s Army spokesman, Chanane Issakha Acheikh, confirmed the departure of the French warplanes and said that the public would be kept informed on the withdrawal “until the definitive departure of the (French) forces.”
There were no indications about Paris receiving advance notice of Chad’s decision to end its defence cooperation.
A French envoy to President Emmanuel Macron however delivered a report last month with proposals on how France could reduce its military presence in Chad, Gabon and Ivory Coast.
(With inputs from Reuters)
