A contingent of 120 French soldiers left Chad on Friday, marking the start of the withdrawal of French troops from one of the last former colonies where they still maintain a military presence.
French troops were seen boarding their plane and leaving N’djamena airport, following Chad’s surprise decision on November 28 to terminate the defense cooperation agreement with Paris.
The move comes after France has already withdrawn its troops from Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger in recent years.
The withdrawal process officially began earlier this month with the departure of two French Mirage fighter jets on December 10.
The departure marks the end of decades of French military presence in the Sahel and concludes direct French military operations against militants in the region.
It is noteworthy that on November 28, the government of Chad, the main ally of the West in the fight against militant militants in the region, terminated the defense cooperation agreement with France in an unexpected move that surprised French officials.
The terms and conditions of the withdrawal and whether any French troops will remain in the Central African country have not yet been agreed, but the first Mirage warplanes returned to their base in eastern France on Tuesday.
“This is the beginning of the return of French equipment stationed in N’djamena,”said army spokesman Colonel Guillaume Vernet.
France still has about 1,000 troops stationed in Chad, and a full withdrawal is expected to take several weeks.
Vernet said it would take several weeks for the two countries to finalize a timetable for reducing military operations.
