French army says it has begun withdrawal from Chad
France has begun withdrawing its military from Chad after warplanes based in the capital N’Djamena headed home on December 10th, the French army said according to Reuters, two weeks after local authorities said they were ending their defence co-operation with France.
“It marks the beginning of the return of French equipment stationed in N’Djamena,” said French army spokesperson Colonel Guillaume Vernet. France has already pulled its military from Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, following the installation of anti-French military juntas in those West African countries and growing anti-French sentiment.
France still has around 1000 troops in Chad after a decades-long military presence, and Vernet said a calendar to drawdown its operations would still take several weeks to finalise between the two countries.
Reuters
