Chad announces that its military will provide an escort for French troops, who have been instructed to leave neighboring Niger by the post-coup government, as they journey through Chad on their way back to France.
The French military is confronted with the challenge of transporting its equipment primarily via overland routes through Chad and Cameroon, spanning a distance exceeding 3,000 kilometers (approximately 1,860 miles). Some of these areas are recognized to host jihadist groups.
“Chad has agreed to offer a corridor of its territory for the return of French troops to France,” chief of general staff of the Chadian army Abakar Abdelkerim Daoud said in a statement dated Thursday.
“Chadian forces will escort these convoys from the Nigerien border to N’Djamena for the airport… and to the Cameroonian border for the port of Douala.”
Around 1,400 soldiers were stationed in Niamey, the capital of Niger, and in the western regions of the country to combat militants associated with the Islamic State group and Al-Qaeda.
On Tuesday, an initial group departed from their advance outpost in Ouallam, en route to neighboring Chad, traveling over 1,600 kilometers by road in armored vehicles with a Nigerien escort.
French troops can opt for air transport from N’Djamena, allowing them to transport their most sensitive equipment.
Nonetheless, the majority of the equipment will need to be transported overland and by sea, according to a former French military logistics expert based in Africa, who requested anonymity.
Niger has shut its land borders with Benin and Nigeria following the coup on July 26, when military leaders removed the democratically elected President Bazoum from power.
