France to keep its troops in Chad amid apparent pre-election crackdown on opposition

France has said it will keep its 1,000 troops in junta-run Chad amid waning French influence after it was ousted from several African countries over the past few years, just as apparent calm has returned to Chad’s capital N’Djamena following the assassination of an opposition leader.
“Of course we will stay” in Chad, said Jean-Marie Bockel, French President Emmanuel Macron’s envoy, on Thursday (7 March) following a meeting with General Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno who has de facto ruled the country since 2021. According to Bockel, the French president had requested talks with Chadian authorities on “an evolution” of his country’s military deployment to “better adapt it” to growing regional security and military issues. The envoy also said he conveyed Paris’ “admiration” to Deby Itno for the country’s transition to civilian rule after he took power following his father’s three-decade iron-fisted rule.
France will thus keep troops in Chad after French soldiers and diplomats were expelled from Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger last year after the three countries the military staged coups against governments that aligned with the West, mainly Paris. All three military-run governments also formed a military alliance, and declared a number of economic steps revoking previous French exploitation of their countries’ resources. While French influence has waned in its former West African colonies that have strengthened ties with Russia, the de-facto Chad’s ruler has since pursued stronger ties with Paris. Meanwhile, Deby Itno has announced he planned to run in this year’s long-delayed presidential race days after his main opponent was killed in murky circumstances. The authorities have also confirmed that Deby’s uncle, Gen Saleh Deby Itno, had been arrested in the wake of the recent events.