The first French soldiers to have left their bases in Niger in a land convoy towards Chad have arrived in N’Djamena, the spokesperson for the French general staff announced to AFP on Thursday.
This convoy left Niger “safely and in coordination with Nigerien forces”, explained Colonel Pierre Gaudillière. He “arrived without any particular incident” in N’Djamena, capital of neighboring Chad, after nine days of travel. Air rotations to France will be organized “in the coming days”.
Niger: start of withdrawal of French forces
© / afp.com/Sylvie HUSSON, Paz PIZARRO
A journey of more than 3,000 km
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 by locations of 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.
A Macron-Déby meeting
On Wednesday, the French head of state Emmanuel Macron met at the Elysée with the president of the transition in Chad, Mahamat Idriss Déby. They discussed “all regional issues (…) as well as the return to France of our military resources”, specified the French presidency.
The French presence in the Sahel has continued to decline since 2020. Successive coups in Mali, Burkina Faso and finally in Niger have put an end to the anti-jihadist force Barkhane deployed since 2014 in Mali, which numbered up to 5,500 soldiers deployed in the area.