France and Chad rebuild military ties with planned air force training

The stopover will take place as part of a joint military exercise involving the armed forces of Côte d'Ivoire, Gabon and France in November.

Xavier Rival, a spokesman for the French chief of defence staff, said Thursday that two French Mirage 2000 fighter jets and a French CASA transport aircraft would make a technical stopover in Chad.

"It will be a short visit that will also provide an opportunity to conduct training activities," he said.

Relations between France and Chad began to deteriorate in mid-2024.

They reached breaking point when Chad's leader Mahamat Idriss Déby Itno formally terminated his country's military cooperation agreement with France in November 2024.

The move led to the complete withdrawal of French troops from the country in early 2025.

Mending ties

Rival said France's cooperation with Chad had resumed, "in full respect of Chad's sovereignty".

He said the French armed forces would help develop the capabilities of the Chadian air force.

"France's objective is to contribute to efforts against regional instability," he added.

Chad had been one of France's last military footholds in the Sahel, a region where Paris once deployed more than 5,000 soldiers as part of its anti-jihadist Operation Barkhane, which ended in November 2022.

Coups between 2020 and 2023 forced France to withdraw from Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, as the juntas in those countries drew closer to Russia.

France and Chad have since sought to revive their ties, while expanding them to include economic and cultural cooperation as well as military assistance.

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'New step forward'

President Emmanuel Macron hosted Déby for talks in mid-October as part of ongoing efforts to rebuild the relationship. It followed another visit in January.

During Déby's most recent trip, France and Chad signed a declaration of intent to renew their defence cooperation.

"We are taking a new step forward and formalising the strengthening of our defence partnership, in line with a renewed relationship," Macron posted on social media platform X, after hosting Déby at the Élysée Palace.

"We are building a partnership based on mutual respect and practical cooperation for the benefit of our peoples."

France and Chad sign 'renewed' defence partnership following two-year hiatus

Macron has sought to renew France's engagement with Africa after years of strained ties with former French-speaking colonies.

On the economic front, France's main employers' federation Medef hosted a France-Chad business forum in September, bringing together 250 companies to encourage investment.

The Élysée said Medef is planning to send a delegation to Chad in the coming months.

Under an ambitious national development plan to diversify its economy, Chad says it aims to raise €26.5 billion in public and private investment and boost its GDP by 60 percent by 2030.

(with newswires)