Chadians Protest the “departure of France” in Hundreds of Numbers

A week after the central African nation terminated a military pact with its former colonizer, hundreds of protesters protested in Chad on Friday, calling for the removal of French troops from the country.

Protesters wearing placards that read “We don’t want to see a single Frenchman in Chad” screamed “Chad for us, France out” in the capital, N’Djamena.

In a statement last week, Chad said it was terminating a defense cooperation deal with France in order to restructure its strategic alliances according to its own interests. About 1,000 French troops are still stationed in Chad, and the statement did not say when they would go.

On Friday, some demonstrators visited a French military airbase and called for the troops to leave. Others assembled in front of the French embassy, which was well guarded by Chadian troops.

“We no longer want the French presence in Chad,” stated Dr. Hissein Massar, the former public health minister. “This protest will end when the French leave Chad ,” he stated.

After years of battling Islamic extremists alongside local forces, France was driven out of Niger, Mali, and Burkina Faso in recent years, leaving Chad as one of the few nations in the region with a sizable military presence.

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