Terrorism file at top of French PM’s talks in Chad

Ahmed Adel

The turbulent situation in the Lake Chad region, located in the central part of the African Sahel and surrounded by Chad, Cameroon, Nigeria and Niger, as a result of the terrorist operations carried out by the Nigerian terrorist group Boko Haram, has led to growing French concern, as it has the largest presence in the region as a whole. French Prime Minister Jean Castex visited Chad on Thursday, December 31, 2020, where he visited the French Barkhane forces combating terrorist groups in the region.

“We have had fruitful and in-depth discussions,” said Castex, who was received by Chadian President Idriss Deby, adding, “We have discussed ways to enhance cooperation between France and Chad in order to achieve a common goal, which is to fight terrorism, whether in the Sahel region against ISIS and al-Qaeda or in the Lake Chad region against Boko Haram.

Among the thorny issues that were touched upon in the French-Chadian talks was the future of the French military deployment in the Sahel region after the killing of three soldiers in Mali last week when an improvised explosive device exploded. Castex honored the victims in a speech he delivered at the Barkhane Force command center in the capital, N’Djamena.

It should be noted that the Chief of Staff of the French Armies, General Francois Lecointre, announced that his country is seriously considering withdrawing its forces from the Sahel region.

Lecointre explained that it is likely that France will partially withdraw its forces in the coming days or weeks, according to the French newspaper Le Monde.

The French presidency announced that clear directives will be issued during a summit to be held in early 2021 in N’Djamena that will bring together France and its partners in the G5 Sahel countries involved in the fight against terrorism, namely Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso, Mauritania and Chad.

This summit will be held on the first anniversary of the Pau summit, which has redefined the objectives in the common border region between Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso, with many tactical successes, especially against ISIS.

France refuses to talk about any liberation from the commitment to combat terrorism, but it is counting on strengthening the local forces, which could allow it to return the 600 troops who were reinforced this year.

Since the beginning of 2020, Boko Haram has carried out many operations, perhaps the most prominent of which is the suicide bombing in the far north of Cameroon near the border with Nigeria on September 4, 2020, which resulted in the killing of seven civilians and the wounding of 14 others, and it launched an attack on a village bordering Nigeria on August 3, killing 18 civilians and injuring 11 others.

Boko Haram also launched terrorist attacks on various towns in the northernmost provinces of Cameroon on February 16, 2020, and these attacks caused material losses that affected vital facilities inside these towns, as well as the attack on a village in northern Cameroon on February 4, 2020, in which many homes were torched and two civilians were killed.