France hands over first military base amid withdrawal from Chad

NEWS WIRES
·2-min read
A pilot sits on top of a French fighter jet, as France starts the withdrawal of its military from Chad with the departure of two warplanes, in N'Djamena, Chad, December 10, 2024.

France has officially handed over its first military base in Faya-Largeau to Chad as part of an ongoing withdrawal of French forces. This move follows Chad’s abrupt termination of military cooperation last month with its former colonial power. French troops are also set to leave bases in Abeche and the capital N'Djamena.

France has handed over its first military base as part of the withdrawal of its military forces from Chad, the French and Chadian militaries said Thursday.

Chad's military chief of staff said the base at Faya-Largeau in the north of the country had been handed over and that it would inform the public about progress concerning the withdrawal of French forces from bases in the eastern city of Abeche and the capital N'Djamena.

It said French troops had left in vehicles for the capital N'Djamena, 780 kilometres (480 miles) to the south, without providing a precise figure.

ADVERTISEMENT

"The handover took place in accordance with the calendar and the conditions agreed with Chad," the French military chief of staff said separately.

Chad last month abruptly ended military cooperation with its former colonial power and French troops began leaving the country last Friday, ten days after French warplanes left.

The move comes as Chad holds parliamentary and local elections on Sunday.

The French army had some 1,000 personnel in the country.

Chad's military said an Antonov 124 took off Thursday with 70 tonnes of cargo as part of the withdrawal.

French authorities said military vehicles would leave by January and be repatriated via the Cameroonian port of Douala.

(AFP)


Read more on FRANCE 24 English

Read also:
France returns fighter jets from Chad, marking start of military withdrawal
France to reduce troops in West and Central Africa to 600, say sources

Latest stories

  • North Korea's suicide soldiers pose new challenge for Ukraine in war with Russia

    After a battle in Russia's snowy western region of Kursk this week, Ukrainian special forces scoured the bodies of more than a dozen slain North Korean enemy soldiers. But it is among mounting evidence from the battlefield, intelligence reports and testimonies of defectors that some North Korean soldiers are resorting to extreme measures as they support Russia's three-year war with Ukraine. "Self-detonation and suicides: that's the reality about North Korea," said Kim, a 32-year-old former North Korean soldier who defected to the South in 2022, requesting he only be identified by his surname due to fears of reprisals against his family left in the North.

  • Chinese families desperate for help as relatives fall victim to yet another human trafficking case in Thailand

    BANGKOK, Jan 14 — Desperate Chinese families are urgently seeking help after their relatives disappeared in Thailand, su...

  • Israel's Air Force blazes air superiority path to Iran's border

    Israel's actions in the wake of Syria's collapse give it unprecedented power in the air — right up to Iran's border.

  • Trump Snubs Elon With Decision on White House Digs

    Elon Musk is reportedly set to receive office space in the White House complex for his incoming work as co-head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), but he won’t be wall-to-wall with President-elect Donald Trump. Citing two sources that have been briefed on the plans, The New York Times reports that Musk will set up camp at the Eisenhower Executive Office, a separate building adjacent to the White House. It’s still not clear whether Musk’s DOGE partner, Vivek Ramaswamy, will also h

  • Ivanka Trump reveals why she won’t return to the White House

    As her father prepares to take up the presidency for a second time next week, Ivanka Trump revealed that she “hates politics” and has no intention of returning to work at the White House. The 43-year-old former presidential adviser shared the multiple reasons she decided to sit this term out while appearing on Tuesday’s episode of the “Him & Her” podcast. After Donald Trump lost the 2020 ...

  • Putrajaya ups SARA for hardcore poor to RM2,100 for 2025, expands MyKad payments to Sabah and Sarawak

    KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 14 — The federal government has increased the annual Sumbangan Asas Rahmah (SARA) payments to RM2,100...

  • Thai PM says nearly fell for foreign leader phone scam

    Thailand's Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra almost fell victim to a phone scam using AI to impersonate a foreign leader's voice, she said Wednesday.The PM, the youngest daughter of telecoms billionaire and ex-prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, said she received a message in a voice sounding identical to a well-known leader, without identifying the person. 

  • Here are the names of the 6 new Gerald R. Ford-class aircraft carriers that are poised to lead the US Navy until 2100

    Two new aircraft carriers are being named after Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, continuing the Navy convention of naming them after US presidents.

  • Israeli soldiers refuse to fight until Gaza ceasefire is signed

    A growing number of Israeli soldiers have threatened to stop fighting against Hamas in Gaza unless their government secures a ceasefire.

  • China mulls potential sale of TikTok US to Musk, Bloomberg News reports

    Beijing officials prefer that TikTok remains under the control of parent Bytedance, the report said, citing sources. TikTok's U.S. operations could either be sold through a competitive process or an arrangement by the government, the report said, suggesting that the future of the app is no longer solely in ByteDance's control. China's government has a "golden share" in ByteDance, which several members of Congress have said gives the government power over Tiktok.

  • Canadian Leader Fires Shot at Trump With Plan to Tariff the U.S. Right Back

    The leader of Canada’s New Democratic Party became the latest Canadian elected official to speak out against President-elect Donald Trump’s continued tariff threats, calling on his counterparts running in this year’s upcoming federal election to support countermeasures against the U.S. Jagmeet Singh, the leader of the left-leaning minority party, called on Canadian leaders to impose “retaliatory tariffs” on U.S. imports and cut off exports of crucial minerals like cobalt and lithium. “In order t

  • Hamas OKs draft agreement of a Gaza ceasefire and the release of some hostages, officials say

    Hamas has accepted a draft agreement for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and the release of dozens of hostages, two officials involved in the talks said Tuesday. Mediators from the United States and Qatar said Israel and the Palestinian militant group were at the closest point yet to sealing a deal to bring them a step closer to ending 15 months of war. The Associated Press obtained a copy of the proposed agreement, and an Egyptian official and a Hamas official confirmed its authenticity.

  • South Korean President Yoon arrested over failed martial law bid

    Impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol was arrested on Wednesday over his failed martial law bid, after hundreds of anti-graft investigators and police raided his residence to end a weeks-long standoff.A first attempt on January 3 failed after a tense hours-long standoff between the guards and anti-graft investigators working with police. 

  • Australia's prime minister demands Russia explain what happened to Australian POW

    Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Wednesday his government will take the “strongest action possible” if Russia has harmed an Australian who was taken prisoner while fighting for Ukraine. Video posted on social media in December showed Oscar Jenkins, 32, dressed in a military uniform with his hands bound being questioned and struck by a Russian interrogator. Australian authorities were seeking comment from Russia on reports that the Melbourne school teacher had been killed since he became a prisoner of war.

  • Ukraine-Russia war live: Moscow plotted terror attacks on airlines around world, Poland PM Tusk claims

    The Kremlin has dismissed previous Western claims that Russia sponsored acts of sabotage and attacks in Europe

  • Paul Krugman Issues Dire Warning On How ‘A Lot’ Of Trump Voters Will Be ‘Brutally Scammed’

    The economist also slammed one of the president-elect’s policies as “terrible.”

  • Biden administration finalizes US crackdown on Chinese vehicles

    President Joe Biden's outgoing administration is finalizing rules on Tuesday that will effectively bar nearly all Chinese cars and trucks from the U.S. market, as part of a crackdown on vehicle software and hardware from China. Washington's latest move against Chinese vehicles comes after the Commerce Department said this month it was considering a similar crackdown on Chinese-made drones, in the wake of last year's steep tariff hikes on imports of its electric vehicles. "It's really important because we don't want two million Chinese cars on the road and then realize ... we have a threat," Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo told Reuters in an interview, citing national security concerns.

  • Chip industry groups slam expected rules in private letter to Biden

    A half-dozen trade groups from the semiconductor and manufacturing industries sent a private letter to U.S. President Joe Biden complaining that new export controls expected this week were rushed through without consulting them. The Biden administration on Monday released regulations on where computing chips from Nvidia can be placed around the world, setting up a three-tier system in which most nations will need to obtain licenses to build AI data centers with U.S. chips. In a letter to Biden dated January 13 that was not released publicly, trade groups including the Semiconductor Industry Association, which represents chip firms, and SEMI, which represents firms that make tools to manufacture chips, complained about that rule as well as another rule that could come as early as this week.

  • Pete Hegseth’s Fox News Salary Revealed Before Confirmation Hearing

    Hegseth’s payday as secretary of defense, if he’s confirmed, would be quite different from his old TV gig.

  • A newly deployed top US missile-defense system is getting a workout in the Middle East

    The US deployed a THAAD air-defense battery to Israel in October, and it has been used in combat multiple times since then.