It is the last country in the Sahel that still accepts the presence of the French army on its soil. Chad welcomed the first land convoy to leave Niger, a nine-day journey which went “without incident” to N’Djamena, the state spokesperson announced to AFP on Thursday. -French major. This convoy left Niger “safely and in coordination with Nigerien forces,” explained Colonel Pierre Gaudillière. Air rotations to France will be organized “in the coming days”, he added.
Asked by AFP about the arrival of French troops, the Minister of Communication and spokesperson for the Chadian transitional government had not responded by mid-morning.
A journey strewn with pitfalls
Driven out of Niger, the French army had to evacuate its equipment mainly by land to Chad then Cameroon, before their repatriation to France, a journey of more than 3,000 km, part of which crossed hostile zones, sheltering in places jihadist groups. N’Djamena is home to the command of French operations in the Sahel and around a thousand French soldiers.
A few days after the departure of the convoy from Niamey towards the Chadian border, N’Djamena indicated “agreeing to offer a corridor of its territory for the return of French troops to France”, according to a press release from the head of state. major general of the Chadian army, General Abakar Abdelkerim Daoud. “The Chadian forces will provide escort for these convoys from the Nigerien border to N’Djamena for the airport (…) and to the Cameroonian border for the port of Douala,” concluded the text.