After recalling the Ambassador from N’Djamena

French forces expelled from Niger move to the western Borders of Sudan

Report – Amir Abdel Majid

During the past two days, videos of French military vehicles, troop carriers and tanks have appeared in streets of N’Djamena, causing panic in the city that has not yet recovered from the loud explosions that turned its night into day as a result of the shells that fell on people’s homes after ammunition depots exploded near the airport and the French base.
Therefore, the convoys of military vehicles attracted people’s attention, and in one of the video clips, one of them appeared asking the president to expel these (evildoers), meaning the French, from the country, and asking why we receive them after all of Africa expelled them.

Military Presence :

The tankers had headed directly via N’Djamena to the eastern city of Abéché on the border with Sudan for unknown reasons after their destination was N’Djamena airport. France had announced that its forces expelled from Niger would enter Chad and gather there at the airport in preparation for departure and loading their vehicles, but this is not true on the ground because the forces made their way from Niger and entered the capital, N’Djamena, before heading to the city of Abéché on the Sudanese-Chadian border.
Relations between Paris and Niamey had become tense after the overthrow of France’s agent in Niger, President Mohamed Bazoum, who is related to the leader of the Rapid Support Forces RSF militia, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo. The French military presence has been declining in the Sahel region since 2020, and the authorities that emerged from the Niger coup adopted anti-French positions, which was the reason for Paris withdrawing its ambassador from the Nigerien capital.

Securing A corridor :
France announced last Thursday that the first group of its soldiers who left Niger had arrived in the Chadian capital, N’Djamena. The spokesperson for the French General Staff, Colonel Pierre Godier, explained to the French News Agency that this convoy left Niger in coordination with the Nigerien forces and arrived without any incident in N’Djamena after ten days of travel.
He added that flights will be organized from Chad to France in the coming days. After being expelled from Niger, the French army was forced to transport its equipment by land to Chad and then Cameroon before returning it to France on a journey of three thousand kilometers, during which it passed through hostile areas that include hostile fighting groups.
The French operations command in the Sahel region is stationed in N’Djamena, with about a thousand French soldiers.
Colonel Goodyear of the French army reported that half of the forward base sites in Ouallam and Ayorou (northwest of Niger) in the so-called three-border area with Burkina Faso and Mali had been emptied. N’Djamena affirmed in a statement its approval to secure a corridor from its territory for the return of French forces to France. A statement by the Chadian Chief of Staff, General Abakar Abdel Karim Daoud, said that Chadian forces would provide security for these convoys from the Nigerien border to N’Djamena and all the way to the airport.
The Minister of Communication and spokesman for the Chadian government refused to answer press inquiries about the arrival of French forces. Reporters from agencies and newspapers were unable to approach the French base in N’Djamena due to barriers that the Chadian army had erected a long time ago. The Chadian army accompanied the transport of these carriers to Abéché in four-wheel drive vehicles for fear of Demonstrations or objections from the local population, and despite what was announced by France and the Chadian government, some observers of Chadian affairs fear that the movement of troops to the east is linked to what is happening in Sudan, which is something that could drag the entire region into a comprehensive war.

A global Confrontation :

However, Chadian journalist Mohamed Nour Rabah denied through his Facebook page that the French military movements have any relation to Sudan or intervention there because such a step would drag the country into a global confrontation that Chad and the region cannot tolerate, as it is expected that if France intervenes directly and engages alone in any reckless step, Russia will intervene and we will all enter a spiral from which we will not get out, and he added, “Some are rushing and spreading rumors to harm Sudanese-Chadian relations that are already damaged by what is happening in Sudan and do not need more fire.
The movements of French troops have nothing to do with Sudan, nor has the meeting between President Deby and the French president at the Elysee Palace anything to do with the war in Sudan or in Niger.”

Lost Trust :

But political researcher and lecturer at the University of Sudan, Mohamed Jamal El-Din El-Faki, believes that the matter has multiple aspects because trust is currently lost between Sudan, Chad and France, and because the Sudanese government recalled its Ambassador from N’Djamena this week, coinciding with this French military movement on the Sudanese border.
He added, “There is no doubt that the Sudanese government has information about what is happening, otherwise it would not have recalled its ambassador and raised the issue of controlling the borders with Chad now, despite its knowledge and our knowledge that these borders have never been controlled and have always been the gateway through which calamities come. Therefore, I do not rule out that there are matters behind the Sudanese border with Chad that are being arranged because there is no point in forces withdrawing from Niger and wanting to return to France.
There is no point in them heading to Abéché because if they wanted to leave, they would leave either from N’Djamena airport or from Douala airport in Cameroon.” He continued, “In general, I do not believe that France can play a role, at least militarily, in the region because this will plunge it and the host country into a spiral of chaos, armies, militias and jihadist movements that will never end.”