Timbuktu Institute - Week 3 - February 2026

At the end of January, Chadian President Mahamat Idriss Déby's visit to the Élysée Palace formalised the resumption of diplomatic relations between France and Chad, one year after French forces withdrew from the country. While both sides laconically welcomed a ‘revitalised partnership based on mutual respect and shared interests’, the meeting also provided an opportunity to lay the foundations for a new form of military cooperation. According to Le Monde, the cooperation projects underpinning this reconciliation include ‘a discreet military component’. Under the new arrangements, Paris could provide intelligence support and training to Chadian forces without deploying large numbers of soldiers, as was previously the case. This new formula seems to be adapted to the new realities of the sub-region, where the geopolitical situation remains fluid and complex. Chad, a strategic country in the Sahel belt, now faces worrying instability on its eastern border, marked by the conflict in neighbouring Sudan. From a broader perspective, Paris appears to be making a discreet but effective return to the sub-region via N'Djamena, which is likely to raise questions among observers of a sub-region whose geopolitical situation remains fluid and complex.

North under surveillance

The vast and rugged north of Chad remains the scene of persistent security concerns. In the province of Borkou, on the road linking Faya to Kouba Oulanga, an ambush attributed to suspected road bandits on the night of 17 to 18 February resulted in the death of a travel agency driver. The army was dispatched to the scene and intervened to repel the attackers. Unofficial reports indicate that four officers were killed, while three attackers were neutralised and another captured. Aware of these security challenges, the Chadian authorities are striving to address them. It was in this context that officials from the United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the Chadian Ministry of Public Security and Immigration held a strategic meeting on 16 February on the fight against narcotics. Following the meeting, the US agency presented the Chadian ministry with the ‘Drug Identification Bible,’ a strategic document on the treatment and prevention of illicit drugs. N'Djamena hopes to consolidate its cooperation with the United States while improving its ability to identify criminal networks through an integrated approach to preventing crime and consolidating both national and regional stability.

Lake Chad Basin: a constant equation

In the Lake Chad Basin, the issue of human mobility lies at the intersection of security, environmental and socio-economic challenges. Faced with these interrelated issues, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) and the Lake Chad Basin Commission (LCBC) signed a memorandum of understanding in N'Djamena on 19 February 2026 to strengthen their cooperation in community stabilisation efforts in the Lake Chad Basin region. This agreement institutionalises an existing partnership. But this time, it aligns with the Regional Stabilisation, Recovery and Resilience Strategy (SR-SRR 2.0) adopted in 2025. Given the complexity of the challenges, this example of institutional cooperation highlights the need for a coordinated approach at the sub-regional level, which continues to share vulnerability.