Chad has said it is terminating a key defence cooperation agreement with France, raising questions about Paris’s waning influence in Africa’s embattled Sahel region.

Chadian Foreign Minister Abderaman Koulamallah said it was time for his country to “assert its full sovereignty”.

The announcement came just hours after Koulamallah’s French counterpart, Jean-Noel Barrot, met Chad’s President Mahamat Deby.

Chad is a key partner in the West’s fight against Islamist militants in the West African Sahel region.

But prior to the presidential election in May, Chad’s authorities ordered the withdrawal of US troops from the country, signalling a distancing from the country’s traditional Western allies.

France currently has about 1,000 troops in the Central African country providing intelligence and logistical assistance to the Chadian military from their bases, including in the capital N’Djamena.

France, Chad’s former colonial ruler, had signed a revised version of the military and security agreement in 2019.

Chad is just the latest nation in Central and West Africa to sever its security agreements with Paris.

Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso have all ended deals with France and other Western nations in recent years, turning to Russia for support instead.

But Koulamallah told the AFP news agency that Chad’s decision did not mark a “break with France, like Niger or elsewhere”.

France was an “essential partner” but Chad must “redefine its strategic partnerships according to national priorities”, Koulamallah said at a press briefing on Thursday.

The authorities insisted the move would not affect Chad’s relations with France in other areas.