Four months after the French soldiers left the scene, the announcement came a few days ago: the American soldiers will also have to abandon the territory of Niger. Meanwhile, in Niamey, the capital, about a hundred Russian military instructors have landed, with an anti-aircraft system in tow, a “little gift” from Moscow. 250 Italian soldiers and a hundred Germans remain on site, but the country, after last summer’s military coup, has now entered Russia’s orbit, after Burkina Faso and Mali. Theoretically, Chad remains in the Sahel as a bastion loyal to the West (over a thousand French soldiers and a hundred Americans remain barricaded there). But until when? The country is in full swing, ever closer to the presidential elections, which will be held on May 6th. And from Chad come contradictory and worrying elements, dangerous winks at Moscow and a dispute that has just broken out with Washington. Not to mention the announced landing of 200 Hungarian soldiers: Viktor Orban, with ambiguous relations with Vladimir Putin, has set his sights on this Sahel country, where he repeatedly sends expert missions (which also includes a mysterious character, Gaspar Orban, his son).
(afp)
The President of the Military Council
Chad is leading today Mahamat Idriss Déby, 40, president of the Transitional Military Council, created after the sudden death, in 2021, of his father, Idriss Déby, master of the country for 31 years and killed while fighting against the Northern rebels. Many times Idriss Deby he reiterated his loyalty to France, a former colonial country, and to the West, but last January 24 he unexpectedly flew to Moscow, where he met Putin, who promised him “to contribute with all possible means” to the stability of the village. “Chad is a brother country of Russia,” retorted the African president.
What game does he play? Does he want to scare France and the USA and monetize his alliance? Or prepare some “surprises”? Not to mention that last April 18th a letter, deemed authentic, addressed by the Chief of Staff of the Chad Air Force to the Ministry of Defense, was circulated on social media, where a previous one was evoked, in which the military attaché was asked the US embassy in Chad to “immediately stop American military activities”. There would have been a problem due to an aircraft exercise not previously reported to the country’s authorities. Abderaman Koulamallah, government spokesman, said: “We only asked for clarification and we are trying to find a solution.” But the New York Times indicates that the United States just had to remove 75 soldiers from Chad. There would now be barely a handful left. State Department sources report that “the US and Chad want to take stock of their military cooperation once the elections have passed.”
(afp)
Towards the presidential elections
The presidential elections will be held on May 6. At the beginning of the transition, immediately after the death of his father, Idriss Deby he promised he wouldn’t show up: he was a democrat. And he instead ran. Even earlier, on February 28, the army attacked the headquarters in N’Djamena, the capital, of Yaya Dillo, his cousin, who was killed. He was the only rival who could really win against him in the elections: eliminated. The candidacy of other opponents was invalidated by the Constitutional Court. If Idriss Déby does not win the presidential election, Succès Masra, the current prime minister, former opponent, but now over to the side of the interim president, could prevail. Idriss Déby, meanwhile, has had contact with Orban’s emissaries since last autumn.
In October 2023, Hungarian Defense Minister Kristof Szalay-Bobrovniczky arrived in N’Djamena. Niger is located on one of the main migrant routes from sub-Saharan Africa to the Mediterranean: “If Chad becomes unstable – he declared – we could see a strong increase in the migratory flow towards Europe”. Chad has 18 million inhabitants, but has 1.1 million refugees on its territory, half of whom are Sudanese. Other Budapest missions followed. At the beginning of the year, Hungary Helps, the Hungarian cooperation, opened its first representative office in Africa in N’Djamena. Then, the decision to send 200 soldiers, perhaps immediately after the presidential elections. It is not clear whether Orban acts in coordination with the French and the Europeans.
The role of son Gaspar
Well, an unusual presence wanders around these missions, his son Gaspar (who always tried to avoid the cameras or disguise himself during away games, wearing Covid-type masks or a strange green hat, but in the end the media identified him). He is 32 years old, the president’s only son. He is an army officer. As a young man he started as a professional footballer, a career he abandoned in 2014, after some mediocre performances in his father’s favorite team, Puskas Academy. Later, he became passionate about Africa, after participating in a humanitarian mission in Uganda with a Christian NGO. At that moment he converted to the Pentecostal movement. On a government grant, he trained at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, the British officers’ school. Now he turns up again in Chad.