Chad has announced it is ending military cooperation with former colonial power France.
The development comes just hours after a visit by French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot.
“The government of the Republic of Chad informs national and international opinion of its decision to end the accord in the field of defence signed with the French Republic,” Foreign Minister Abderaman Koulamallah said in a statement on Facebook on Thursday.
Newspot reports that Chad is a key link in France’s military presence in Africa.
The French military constitutes Paris’s last foothold in the Sahel following the forced withdrawal of its troops from Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger.
“This is not a break with France like Niger or elsewhere,” Koulamallah, whose country still hosts around a thousand French troops, said.
Koulamallah, at a press briefing after a meeting between President Mahamat Idriss Deby and Barrot, called France “an essential partner” but added it “must now also consider that Chad has grown up, matured, and is a sovereign state that is very jealous of its sovereignty.”
