Sergei Lavrov ended his express tour of Africa this Wednesday, June 5, the last in a series of visits to the continent in recent years. In Chad, the last stop, the Russian Foreign Minister continued to point the finger at the West in the matter of the war in Ukraine, while raising the threat of a rapprochement with Ndjamena to the detriment of France.
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With our correspondent in Chad, Carol Valade
It’s the end of a marathon tour of the continent for the Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. The end of a long journey of four countries visited in three days. After Guinea, Congo and Burkina Faso, last stop Wednesday evening in Chad where, after meeting President Mahamat Idriss Deby, the head of Russian diplomacy recalled during a press conference the availability of his country to cooperate in many areas. “ It is up to Chadians to establish a list of their needs “, he declared before addressing the question of the relationship with France.
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To the question of whether Chad-Russia cooperation would have consequences on relations between the Chad and France, Chadian Minister of Foreign Affairs Abderman Koulamallah responded: “ We are no one’s hostage! Neither from France, nor from Russia, nor from any power or any country. We are a sovereign country, we develop relationships with whoever we want and maintain relationships with whoever we want “.
“ According to Paris, either you are with us or you are against us »
His Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, tempers and once again blames the West. “ I can assure you that our friendship with the Republic of Chad will not influence its relations with the France. We never ask anyone to choose their friends, but France has another approach. According to Paris, either you are with us or you are against us “, he said.
Then, in the same tone, he did not miss the opportunity to make a statement regarding the war in Ukraine. “ It is not the peace that Westerners want to preserve “, but ” the following principles: you must choose between supporting Russia or supporting » Ukraine, « and if you support Russia, you will be punished. This is the Western vision “.
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For Paris, which maintains a thousand soldiers stationed in the country, Ndjamena is in some ways the last bastion of its influence in the Sahel. For Moscow, on the contrary, it is the opportunity to extend its model. Chad is one of the last missing pieces of the puzzle that Russia is trying to build in the Sahel. But Chad says it wants to maintain its non-aligned position.