Chad, a decades-old ally of France, deeping relations with Russia and its traditional which irritates and pressures traditional allies Paris and Washington.
President Mahamat Déby visited his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, in the Kremlin in January, while Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was in Chad’s capital, N’Djamena, in June to continue the dialogue.
Some Chadian officials have floated the idea of a new military partnership, though the current focus has been on strengthening cultural and media ties.
Last month saw the opening of an official Russian cultural centre in N’Djamena.There have been hitches too: last week Moscow’s diplomats were forced to step in after a “sociologist” linked to the former Wagner security outfit was briefly detained with three colleagues while visiting the Chadian capital.
But overall, Chad’s relationship with Moscow is deepening. This is unsettling for the US and, above all, France, the former colonial power.
They have already seen how effectively Moscow has used cultural and information tools, particularly social media, to promote an assertively anti-Western message in Sahelian countries – where the military regimes that have seized power since 2020 have insisted on the withdrawal of Western forces, preferring instead to cultivate military ties with Russia.
Any sense that Chad could follow the same path would come as an especially painful jolt for France.It has a major military base in N’Djamena and smaller garrisons in the north and east.
The US also kept a small detachment of special forces in the country, but Déby asked for their departure in the run-up to May’s election.
Anti-Western sentiment is widespread among young urban voters in France’s former African colonies.
With the election over, Déby has just agreed to the return of the US forces.
Maintaining this military presence, albeit perhaps on a smaller scale than in the past, matters all the more for both France and the US after the bruising setbacks they have suffered in the central Sahel since 2021.