Macron meets with France’s final Sahel ally

According to the presidency of the African country, the two presidents of Chad and France agreed to improve their bilateral relations.

Chad’s interim president, Mahamat Idriss Deby, commonly known as Mahamat Kaka, made a working trip to Paris where he met with French President Emmanuel Macron and discussed ways to improve bilateral ties.

The two presidents’ discussions on Tuesday lasted for more than an hour and covered topics of interest to both countries in “Africa, Europe, and the world,” according to a statement from the Chadian presidency.

“The two Heads of State emphasised the significance of socioeconomic stability for the prosperity of peoples, asking for increased cooperation to address shared issues. They agreed to cooperate in order to further peace, stability, and socioeconomic growth,” it continued.

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After his pro-French father, Idriss Deby, was murdered by rebels on the battlefield in 2021, Mahamat Kaka became the new leader of Chad. When the interim president initially pledged to organise elections in 18 months, the timetable was eventually extended by two years to October 2024, setting to protests that resulted in the deaths of hundreds of citizens.

The Chadian president declared during their meeting with Macron on Tuesday that he is still dedicated to carrying out all of the transition’s requirements.

Additionally, according to the administration, he “requested continued and substantial support from France as the transition begins its final turn.”

Since Niger claimed last week that French troops relocating from Niamey were being relocated to Chad, Chad has emerged as Paris’ final ally in the Sahel. Paris already has a facility there with about 1,000 soldiers.

Despite the increasing number of protests against the French presence in N’Djamena, the Chadian authorities have praised France as a “long-standing” and “reliable” partner with whom they have a bilateral arrangement that benefits both parties.

A Chadian political expert named Evariste N’Garlem Tolde claimed to RT earlier this month that the French army had failed to quell Islamist insurgencies and had instead encouraged terrorism in the nation.