According to the region’s governor, an army nurse stationed at a French military base in northern Chad shot and killed a Chadian soldier who had assaulted him, triggering protests by the local population.
This incident took place on Tuesday at the Faya-Largeau base, where troops are stationed as part of France’s strategy to combat jihadists in the Sahel region of West Africa.
“A Chadian soldier who was not in a normal state went to the French army base to get bandaged, picked up a scalpel and wounded a French military nurse,” General Ali Maide Kebir, the governor of Borkou region, told media.
“The nurse used his firearm and killed him,” he said.
“After hearing of the soldier’s death, the people of Faya demonstrated all day long outside the entrance to the base and tried unsuccessfully to get inside,” Maide Kebir said.
“The crowd dispersed at nightfall,” he said, describing the attack on the nurse as an “isolated incident.”
France is contending with a surge of discontent in its former African colonies, where coups in Mali and Burkina Faso have led to the withdrawal of its forces from these nations.
Additionally, there is mounting pressure for France to withdraw from Niger, where the elected president with pro-French leanings, Mohamed Bazoum, was ousted in July.
A senior officer with French forces based in the Chadian capital N’Djamena gave further details of the incident.
“During medical consultations (at the base) which were open to the public, a Chadian soldier who was being treated attacked a French nurse with a scalpel,” the officer said.
“He had to make use of weapon… to defend himself.”
“We don’t know the reasons for the attack. The nurse received three scalpel blows to the throat, head and neck but his condition has stabilised.”
France has maintained a garrison at Faya-Largeau for four decades, with the current contingent consisting of 40 soldiers, as per the source.
