When will we send a Chadian battalion to the three border area?

Chadian soldiers on tanks saluting the crowd in N'Djamena, December 11, 2015, upon their return from a mission from neighboring Niger. BRHAIM ADJI / AFP

Text by: RFI Follow

During her last trip to Chad, a week after the Pau summit, the French Minister for the Armed Forces, Florence Parly, spoke of the deployment of a Chadian battalion in the area of ​​the three borders. Chad is known to have one of the most experienced and efficient armies in the region. No date has yet been set for this deployment, due in part to outstanding issues.

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In recent weeks, the deployment of a Chadian battalion of 500 men in the center zone which covers the area of ​​the three borders, between Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger - area which concentrates today the main part of the jihadist attacks in the Sahel - is at the heart of negotiations between Paris and Ndjamena. The cost of such a deployment remains to be settled.

The Chadian government spokesperson recalls that his country had already intervened in Mali in 2013 for three months, a commitment which at the time had cost 100 billion CFA francs, the equivalent of 150 million euros.

" Our country has been out of pocket despite the promises of our partners, " recalls Oumar Yaya Hissein, who specifies: " We are ready, the ball is in the court of the international community, because a war cannot be won without means ”.

►Read also: The French Minister of the Armed Forces on tour in the Sahel

Apart from the financial questions, on a strictly military level, the representatives of Chad want to be confident: " We have a good handle on the ground ", assures the government spokesperson. " We know the enemy well and we are prepared to fight it, " he insists.

If the reputation of the Chadian armed forces is well established, some French side do not hide their embarrassment: these soldiers have methods considered sometimes cavalier and expeditious, while the chief of staff of the French armies, General François Lecointre imposes on his troops strict compliance with the rules of engagement in combat.

►Also read - Fight against Boko Haram: Chadian soldiers arrive as reinforcements in Nigeria

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