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.

Source:BBC