The image may look very "Françafrique", Emmanuel Macron did not hesitate. He will attend this Friday morning in N'Djamena, flanked by the boss of the Quai d'Orsay Jean-Yves Le Drian, at the funeral of “Marshal of Chad”, President Idriss Déby Itno, killed in action against the rebels of the Fact in the north of the country, after 30 years of absolute rule. No more considerations on the attacks on democracy and human rights customary to the late president, it is to a "courageous friend" that Macron will pay tribute, alongside several African presidents, during a martial ceremony on the place of Independence of the Chadian capital. Why is this young president, who will host a “new-look” France-Africa summit in Montpellier on May 18, giving pride of place to civil societies, at the same time so linked to old practices?
It is because between France and the President-Marshal - his re-election for a 6th term, after a facade election, had been formalized the day before his death - the story is long. Since François Mitterrand in 1990, when the young officer Idriss Déby, a "warrior" respected by the French military for having defeated the powerful army of Libyan colonel Gaddafi with his Toyota pick-ups, overthrew the uncontrollable President Hissène Habré, no president of The Ve has never failed this essential ally in Africa. In 2019 again, Paris took off its Mirage based in N'Djamena to annihilate a rebel column marching on the capital. “Chad is a strategic lock between very unstable areas, Libya, Sudan, the Central African Republic, the Sahel, Boko Haram, etc., lists a soldier familiar with the matter.Idriss Déby has always been personally and actively involved in these crises ”.
The future of Operation Barkhane at stake
A destabilization of the country, dangerous for the region, would be a nightmare scenario for France too. The future of Operation Barkhane, whose CP is based in N'Djamena, would be at stake. At the beginning of the year, Chad sent a battalion of 1,200 very seasoned soldiers alongside the Barkhane force against the jihadists. in the “three borders” region (Mali-Niger-Burkina Faso). Emmanuel Macron had also regretted not being able to go in person, for health reasons, to the G5 Sahel summit in N'Djamena in February to thank his "friend Idriss". If the rebels threatened the capital, Idriss Déby's son Mahamat, a 37-year-old general partly trained in France, at the head of the Military Transition Committee (CMT) which has assumed all of its powers, would repatriate undoubtedly his troops.According to French strategists, however, the rebellion “does not have the volume of force necessary for such a hold, but has the means to wreak havoc by attacking detachments across the country”.
Read also Death of Chadian President Idriss Déby: 5 minutes to understand the consequences for France
The stake is also political. Even if Paris, slips a diplomat, "is not in control and has no successor in his pocket", the presence of Macron in Chad also serves to mark his desire for a truly conducted democratic transition, with deadlines to respect… "as for the moment in Mali", also in the hands of ex-putschists while awaiting elections. On the Independence Square in N'Djamena, the time will certainly not be for in-depth talks, but it is likely that the President and his Minister of Foreign Affairs will raise the subject with the military authorities ... or even with representatives of the civil society and the opposition? Questioned, the Elysee refused this Thursday to any comment. France and its African allies are in a zone of turbulence ...
