Chad's decision to end defence agreement with France a 'surprise' and 'humiliation'

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00:00For some analysis now, I'm joined on set by a French politics editor, Mark Perelman. Mark,

00:05first of all, how much of a surprise or not is this announcement?

00:08In Senegal, it's not so much of a surprise. Clearly, there were question marks.

00:14A few months ago, the Prime Minister, Ousmane Sonko, had said that, you know,

00:20France shouldn't have military bases in Senegal forever, that clearly this is an issue of

00:26sovereignty. The president, Henri Soin, that report then came here to Paris. He met with

00:31the French president. The French president asked him directly, do you still want our

00:36military presence? And the Senegalese president said, well, we'll have to think about it.

00:41Clearly, they thought about it, and they've decided that this is the end of the military

00:47presence in Dakar, the capital of Senegal. It doesn't come so much of a surprise also because

00:53Macron has designated an envoy, Jean-Marie Boquelle, to figure out the new military presence

00:59in four African countries, including Senegal. And he traveled to three of those countries,

01:05except one, Senegal. He said that it was because there were elections there. But clearly,

01:10it's also because he was probably not welcome. And today we have the answers.

01:14The French soldiers will have to leave. We don't know exactly when, but now this has been set in

01:20motion. The base in Dakar will shut down in the foreseeable future.

01:27Now, Chad has also put an end to the defense partnership with France.

01:31This is considered quite a historic turning point for the country, isn't it?

01:34Absolutely. This is indeed a surprise. This is not what the French authorities were working on.

01:40Jean-Marie Boquelle, whom I just mentioned, was in Chad. He had said a few months ago,

01:46of course, France will stay in terms of military presence. We need to stay.

01:52And there had been discussions about reducing the number of French troops,

01:56also about possibly keeping France. France has not only one base, but it has three military

02:02bases in the country. And the idea was to have fewer soldiers, but to remain present in those

02:07three different areas. And the French were quite optimistic that there would be a solution.

02:12And so, the fact that the Chadian authorities have decided that this is the end and that the

02:19soldiers will have to leave, we don't know exactly when, came really as a surprise.

02:24And maybe I should add a humiliation also, because the French foreign minister

02:29was in Chad and he met with his counterparts. They made a statement together. And so,

02:35in a few hours after he left, Chad issued a statement saying this is the end of the defense

02:41agreement. The foreign minister then said, this is not like in the Sahel. We're not kicking the

02:47French out. We'll make sure we discuss how we proceed. But this is really a historical break,

02:52because Chad is the country in Africa where France has intervened militarily the most.

02:57I mean, they've been there for decades and they were counting on this, because

03:02whereas in Gabon, in Senegal, in Ivory Coast, the presence is more symbolic than anything else,

03:10in Chad it's strategic, because it's a region close to Sudan, close to the Republic of Central

03:17Africa. And Chad has also been active in fighting jihadist groups. So, the French were really

03:23counting on this from a strategic standpoint. So, it's really bad news for Paris and certainly

03:30not something they were waiting for.

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