Ivorian President Alassane Ouattara has announced that French forces will hand over control of their military base in Abidjan in January, continuing the former colonial power’s military exit from West Africa.
In his end-of-year address to the nation on Tuesday, Ouattara said the withdrawal from the 43rd BIMA (Infantry and Marine Battalion of Port-Bouet) – which ends a military presence that has lasted for decades – would be “coordinated and organised”.
The president urged Ivorians to take pride in the modernised state of their armed forces.
The base, which currently hosts around 1,000 French soldiers, will be renamed Général Ouattara Thomas d'Aquin after the head of the Ivorian Chief of Staff, news agency AFP reported.
Military shift
France’s military presence in West and Central Africa is shrinking as the former colonial power reconfigures its strategy. Troop numbers will be reduced to 600, down from around 2,200, as part of this shift.
France to reduce military presence in West and Central Africa
France has already pulled its soldiers out of Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, following military coups in those countries and growing anti-French sentiment.
The government of Chad – a key Western ally in the fight against Islamic militants in the region – abruptly ended its defence cooperation pact with France in November.
France handed over the Faya military base in the desertic north of Chad, on 26 December.
Meanwhile Senegalese president Bassirou Diomaye Faye confirmed on Tuesday the end of all foreign military presence in Senegal from 2025.
French troops are now only present in Djibouti and Gabon.
(with newswires)
