French troops will leave Ivory Coast, with Paris continuing to reduce its presence (and influence) in Africa. This was announced by Ivorian president Alassane Ouattara, claiming that it is a choice in line with the policy of reorganizing the French military presence in the region.
“We can be proud of our army, which is modernising. It is in this context that we have decided on the concerted and organized withdrawal of French forces in Côte d’Ivoire,” Ouattara said, adding that the camp will be named after General Ouattara Thomas d ‘Aquin, the nation’s first Army Chief of Staff.
Reduced presence in the Sahel
Paris was forced to reconfigure its military presence in Africa after being ousted from three Sahel countries, Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, governed by juntas hostile to Paris and which are instead increasingly looking towards Vladimir Putin’s Russia. Just last month, within a few hours of each other, Senegal and Chad had also announced the departure of French troops from their territory and formalized a “reorganisation”.
Thus Russia is occupying the void left by France in Central Africa
On December 26, Paris handed over its first military base to Chad, in Faya, in the country’s far northern desert. Last Tuesday, during his New Year’s speech, Senegalese President Bassirou Diomaye Faye, who until then had not indicated a date for the withdrawal of French soldiers, announced that “the military presence of all foreign countries in Senegal will end in 2025” .
Close ally
Ivory Coast, whose capital is Yamoussoukro, remains an important ally of France in West Africa. About a thousand soldiers were employed in the 43rd Bima, the bataillon d’infanterie de marine, a unit of the French army, heir to the colonial infantry and a corps of marine troops. These soldiers were used in particular in the fight against jihadists who regularly strike in the Sahel and in the north of some Gulf of Guinea countries.
Now France’s military presence in Africa will be limited to troops from Djibouti and Gabon, a presence far from the numerous troops that were stationed in the Sahel to fight jihadists just three years ago.
The military juntas
There has been a sharp increase in criticism of France in its former African colonies in recent years, with many accusing the French of neocolonial business practices and patronage attitudes. In Africa’s coup belt, a number of countries whose governments have been toppled in recent years, ruling military juntas have fanned the flames of such criticism to mobilize public opinion.
But Ivory Coast is different. Ouattara has long been seen as France’s man after his predecessor, Laurent Gbagbo, was forcibly removed from power in 2011 with the help of French military attacks. But some analysts saw his announcement on the withdrawal of French troops as an attempt to rally support from a public that has become increasingly critical of Paris’ military presence, seen as a violation of national sovereignty.
The three countries neighboring Ivory Coast that forced the withdrawal of French troops – Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger – have expressed skepticism about the exit of the European nation’s soldiers from the region. They instead characterized the departures as a “deception” by the French government, which they call an “imperialist French junta.”
