Germany expels Chad's envoy in retaliation

The German Federal Foreign Office on Tuesday ordered Chad's ambassador, Mariam Ali Moussa, that she must leave Germany within two days in response to the "unfounded expulsion" of Germany's ambassador to Chad, Jan-Christian Gordon Kricke, reported dpa.

"We very much regret that it had to come to this," a Foreign Office spokesman said.

Last Friday, Chad ordered Kricke to leave within 48 hours. He returned to Berlin on Sunday.

Chad's government declared the German diplomat an "undesirable person" and claimed Kricke had an "impolite attitude" and "lack of respect for diplomatic customs."

Chad's government offered no further explanation for the diplomat's expulsion.

It is widely believed that recent criticism of Chad's transitional government was behind the move. The government's violent suppression of protests in Chad last autumn drew criticism from a number of foreign diplomats.

The Foreign Office spokesman defended Kricke, who had been ambassador to Chad since 2021. The spokesman said that Kricke had carried out his duties in an exemplary manner and had stood up for human rights. He added that the German embassy in the country would continue to do so.

Chad, a country of about 17 million inhabitants in central Africa, has been marked by poverty and corruption.