Chad

Central African Country / First foreign trip as First Lady of France (February 27, 2008)

Accompanied by Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, Defense Minister Hervé Morin and European Commissioner for Development Louis Michel, Nicolas and Carla Sarkozy arrived at N’Djamena airport on February 27, 2008. It was the First Lady’s first foreign trip.  The aim of the visit was to ask for “acceleration” of the democratic process and for “all light to be shed on the fate of the two opponents” arrested on February 3 following the rebel attack on N’Djamena, fought off with great difficulty by President Déby. The opponents were federalist MP Ngarlejy Yorongar, an opponent to Deby since he took power in 1990, and Ibni Oumar Mahamat Saleh, spokesman for the opposition. While the French President spoke with Idriss Déby, also bringing up the fate of the six members of Zoe’s Ark, sentenced to eight years of forced labor for the attempted kidnapping of 103 children supposed to be Darfur orphans, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy spoke with the wife of one of the missing opponents. France, which was the inspiration behind a European force (Eufor) currently being deployed in eastern Chad and the northwestern part of the Central African Republic, in order to protect in particular Sudanese refugees fleeing the conflict in Darfur, has coordinated a military arrangement known as Epervier grouping together 1,500 soldiers in Chad since 1986. Before leaving for South Africa, the presidential couple dined with French soldiers in a hangar at the Kossei base. “This is my first visit. For the moment, I am just listening to what people have to say. That is how I see my role“, France’s First Lady said.