Bockel expressed France's admiration for Chad's transition to civilian rule and confirmed that his country's forces will remain there (French)
Jean-Marie Boucle, French President Emmanuel Macron's envoy to Africa, announced that Paris will keep its forces in Chad, which is ruled by a military junta, after African countries expelled French forces from it.
France's influence in its former colonies in West Africa declined after the new regimes in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger expelled its forces from their territories.
About a thousand French soldiers are stationed in Chad, which has been ruled by General Mohamed Idriss Deby since 2021, and is one of France's few allies in Africa currently.
Bockel, who is also charged with discussing the new French military deployment on the continent, said, “Of course we will stay” in Chad.
Bokle added - after his meeting with Déby in N'Djamena - that Macron requested talks with the Chadian authorities regarding the "evolution" of the French military deployment to "better adapt it" to regional security and military challenges.
Bokle pointed out that he also expressed to Deby France's "admiration" for Chad's transition to civilian rule, a process that began after the head of the military junta took power to succeed his father, who was killed after ruling the country for more than three decades with an iron fist.
Déby will run in the presidential elections scheduled for May 6, which he will almost certainly win, with major opposition figures exiled, co-opted, or killed.
Deby's main rival, his cousin Yaya Dilo Djiro, was killed last week in an incident that Dilo's party described as an "execution", while the government said that Dilo violently resisted arrest during an exchange of fire with soldiers.
Déby (39 years old) initially pledged to return power to civilians within 18 months, but postponed the date for another two years.
He had also previously stated that he would not run in the elections.
Source: French