Hungary’s military mission to Chad leaked: “direct combat operations” were in plans

Newly surfaced documents suggest that troops from Hungary could have been authorised to carry out direct combat operations in Chad at the request of President Mahamat Idriss Déby Itno. The revelations stem from a letter sent in September 2023 to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, which has now been partially obtained by investigative journalists.

The invitation letter provided the legal basis for a planned Hungarian military mission. Under international law, foreign troops may only operate on another country’s territory if formally invited by the host state. According to the leaked correspondence, the Chadian leadership explicitly asked for Hungarian military assistance — including, if necessary, armed engagement against terrorist groups.

Combat tasks and independent operations

The draft status agreement between the two countries reportedly outlined that Hungarian personnel could undertake “military tasks using military means” and could, in certain circumstances, operate independently of the Chadian armed forces. These tasks would have included offensive operations and the protection or extraction of designated personnel.

The mission’s legal framework was meant to be clarified in a strategic agreement signed in September 2024 by Hungary’s foreign minister Péter Szijjártó and Chadian foreign minister Abderrahman Koulamallah. However, the agreement has not yet been ratified by either parliament.

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A plan that never materialised

Hungary’s parliament authorised the mission in late 2023, citing the Chadian president’s request. Defence Minister Kristóf Szalay-Bobrovniczky said at the time that Chad plays a key role in stabilising the Sahel region and curbing migration flows. However, the deployment never took place. Internal documents indicate that the Ministry of Defence was still working in November 2025 on extending the mandate and budgeting for the mission.

According to leaked financial plans, Hungary expected to spend roughly HUF 4 billion on personnel and operational costs, HUF 21.8 billion on logistics, and HUF 1.1 billion on intelligence activities in 2026 alone. The extension proposal was ultimately not submitted to the cabinet after Orbán’s national security adviser reportedly deemed it “not timely.”

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Family connections and political controversy

The project has been controversial from the start, not least because of the involvement of the prime minister’s son himself, Gáspár Orbán, who reportedly attended multiple meetings with Chadian and Nigerien officials. Military officer Szilveszter Pálinkás, who recently gave a shocking interview to Telex, later claimed that Gáspár Orbán helped plan the mission and that projected casualties were estimated at up to 50% of the deployed force. The prime minister dismissed suggestions that junior officers designed the mission, saying such claims were “nonsense.”

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A fragile security backdrop

Chad has faced years of instability. Former president Idriss Déby, who ruled from 1991 to 2021, was killed during fighting with rebels. His son, Mahamat Déby, took power afterwards amid ongoing insurgent violence. Islamist militant groups, including Boko Haram, remain active in the region, and attacks against the Chadian army have continued.

With France having withdrawn its forces in 2025, Chad has sought new security partners — a context that helps explain the original outreach to Hungary. For now, the Hungarian government maintains that no mission is underway, but the leaked documents show how close the deployment came to reality — and raise new questions about Hungary’s foreign military ambitions and the transparency surrounding them.