President of Chad may invite Hungarian troops to his country during Budapest visit next week

Based on Szabad Európa’s diplomatic sources, Chad’s President, Mahamat Déby, will visit Budapest next week, as the programme appears in the diplomatic schedule of the two countries. The Chadian President is in Beijing and plans to visit Budapest before returning home. He was due to come in June, but owing to the violent clashes between the army and Islamist groups, he could not.

According to Szabad Európa, plans are about multiple high-level meetings and bilateral agreements covering defence cooperation, Hungarian economic aid, joint fight against international terrorism, halting illegal migration, and strengthening cultural ties.

Signing the defence cooperation would mean that the mission of 200 Hungarian soldiers can start in the unstable Central African country within the framework of a complex support programme.

Gáspár Orbán’s (the Hungarian prime minister’s only son) presence during the negotiations in N’Djamena raised alarms for opposition politicians who want to know what interests the Hungarian soldiers will protect in the country. Some sources said before that the Orbán cabinet would like to gain access to uranium reserves to aid Russian interests, which is why the prime minister sent his son to the country. Others said the Chad mission was Orbán Jr’s idea, and that it would serve the extension of Hungary’s influence in far-away regions to find new business opportunities.

Azbej Tristan, the head of the Hungary Helps Programme, told 24.hu that Captain Orbán was in Chad as an officer of the Hungarian Defence Forces.

Szabad Európa wrote that the French would help Hungarian soldiers since the Hungarian Defence Forces did not have the experience and equipment for such a complex mission.

Opposition politicians fear the entire mission serves only the interests of some government-close business circles.

Official explained why Hungary helps Africa’s Chad

Hungary’s aid to preserve stability in Chad is serving, among other goals, to curb the number of migrants to Europe and to protect Christians, the state secretary for aiding persecuted Christians told public television on Friday.

External help is crucial to preserve stability in central Africa, a region blighted by political instability, desertification, food scarcity and religious persecution, especially that of Christians, Tristan Azbej said. This could lead to tens of millions of migrants leaving the region for Europe, which would have “unforseen consequences” for the continent, he warned.

Chad has an outstanding role as a country that, even though one third of its citizens are in need of humanitarian aid, acccepts the fifth highest number of refugees in the world, Azbej said. That warrants preserving the stability of the current government, he added.

The government’s Hungary Helps programme offers help in handling acute crises such as the aftermath of natural disasters, and supports the counts with medical, engineering and agricultural expertise, Azbej, who is also head of the programme, said.

Chad and the neighbouring countries are home to the most migrants in the world, Azbej said. “Whatever happens in the Sahel impacts the future of Africa and Europe. If people living here can see their future in their own country, the migration weighing on Europe may ease … but if the stability of the countries here crumples one by one, we may be facing a general disaster of migration,” he said.

In the wake of surging Islamist terrorism in the region, the persecution of Christians is also a significant problem, he said. Hungary is supporting the Chad government’s efforts to ensure the peaceful co-existence of Muslims and Christians, he added.

Read also:

• PM Orbán’s only son, Captain Orbán serves in an African country – read more HERE
• Courting Macron? Orbán helps Chad, one of the world’s poorest and least democratic countries