Prime Minister Jean Castex will meet Chadian President Idriss Déby on December 31 before waking up with French soldiers from Operation Barkhane, Matignon announced Thursday December 24.
The head of government, who will be accompanied for this two-day trip by Minister of the Armies Florence Parly and government spokesman Gabriel Attal, will have a bilateral meeting with the Chadian head of state in his winter residence in Amdjarass, Matignon said in a press release.
The Prime Minister had already announced this visit to Chad on December 12 in an interview with the regional daily Indépendant.
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Mr. Castex will then meet by videoconference with the leaders of the Barkhane force, before spending the evening in N'Djamena with the soldiers "in
order to show the nation's support for the French soldiers engaged in the Sahelo-Saharan band
", adds Matignon.
On January 1, the head of government will visit in the morning a post housing the French military detachment of Faya-Largeau, then in the afternoon the French military post in Abéché.
France is present in the Sahel as part of Operation Barkhane, which has engaged more than 5,000 men since the dispatch of 600 additional soldiers in 2020, in the face of the deteriorating situation.
The Sahel is facing jihadist violence and a security crisis which has left thousands of civilian and military dead in recent years.
The visit of the Prime Minister and members of the government is announced in a particularly tense regional context.
Chad's neighbors, Niger and the Central African Republic, are holding their presidential elections this Sunday.
They will take place in Niger under threat in the East from Boko Haram and in the West from other Sahelian jihadist groups.
The Central African Republic is in the throes of civil war and the candidacy of former President François Bozizé has been invalidated.
Emmanuel Macron called the current President Faustin Archange Touadéra on Wednesday, who is the favorite.
The French president condemned “
attempts at destabilization
” and ordered the overflight of the country by fighter planes.
