Chadian President Mahamat Idriss Deby said Chad's military is ready to protect the country from any destabilization attempt as a January 31 deadline loomed for France to withdraw its troops. The last French troops left the N'djamena military base they occupied for about 70 years this week, continuing France’s reduced military presence in West Africa.
Chad's President Field Marshal Mahamat Idriss Deby says this week’s departure of the last French troops from the central African state signals a new dawn for Chad.
Deby spoke at the Sergeant Adji Kossei Military Base in Chad's capital, N'djamena, Friday, during a ceremony to mark the complete withdrawal of French troops before the January 31 deadline he gave Paris to pull out its troops.
The event, broadcast on state radio and TV, was attended by top military officials, government ministers, traditional rulers, diplomats and huge crowds of onlookers.
Twenty-six-year-old teacher Balkange Jean spoke to VOA via a messaging app from N'djamena Friday. He said he was delighted to see French troops leaving.
He said he does not understand why it took a long time for Chad’s government officials to order French troops out. He says French troops were only useful in Chad from June 1983 to December 1984, when France sent close to 4,000 troops to stop an invasion by Libyan military and Chad rebels.
French troops officially arrived in N'djamena to train the country’s young military during independence in 1960.
Deby said the forces remained, claiming France wanted to support Chad's air force against rebels. It stationed troops in N'djamena claiming it was helping Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger to fight militant groups and terrorists operating within Sahel states.
State TV reports that the last French military planes and fighter aircraft left Chad Friday after handing over France's last military base in a military ceremony in N'Djamena Thursday.
Chad announced an end to military cooperation with France November 28. On December 10, several hundred of the more than 1,000 French troops began leaving, but on December 31, Deby ordered the troops to leave his country by January 31.
General Pascal Ianni, the commander of French forces in Africa, speaking on Chad state TV on Friday, said the withdrawal of French troops from several African countries, including Chad, enables France to adapt itself to a revolution that Africa and the world is facing. He said France has to reinvent its military ties in Africa, where dynamic and younger leaders are affecting several changes and bringing hope to their citizens.
French troops were also ordered out of the West African nations of Niger, Burkina Faso and Mali following coups in the countries.
Last year, Senegal said it was negotiating the withdrawal of French forces before December of this year.
Djelassem Maïbé Adolphe is a former member of Chad’s Movement for Peace, Reconstruction and Development, a former rebel group. He was granted amnesty and freed from prison by Deby in August.
He said French-speaking African states with young leaders tend to turn to Russia for military assistance because of growing anti-French sentiments. He said African countries should make sure they individually and collectively have strong militaries to protect their territories instead of thinking that they can always count on external support.
Chad, Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger have shifted toward Russia by signing military deals and inviting Russian troops to train Africa militaries.
Chad says it is within its sovereign powers to negotiate military cooperation with any country of its choice, and that its troops are well trained to protect Chadians and their territory.
