France begins a drastic reduction of its military personnel at its bases in West Africa

At the end of a hard discussion, the head of state ended up deciding on the future of the three French bases established on the coast of West Africa. While the military was suspended for several months from the Elysée arbitration, according to our information, Emmanuel Macron, during a mid-term defense conference, decided to drastically reduce military personnel in Gabon, Senegal and Ivory Coast. -December 2023.

At this stage, the exact number of French troops to be maintained at these bases in Libreville (Gabon), Dakar (Senegal) and Abidjan (Ivory Coast) has not been determined. But, at Army Headquarters, the main affected by this reduction in personnel, the planned reductions are significant in all cases: only a hundred positions, devoted mainly to support functions, will be permanently retained in each of the three cities. A maximalist scenario is envisioned.

The drop in numbers is significant for bases in Libreville and Dakar, which officially hosted 350 troops in recent months, and for France’s logistics hub Abidjan, which had about 950 troops for its operations in the Sahel. The point, however, is that the head of state has not decided to close them – which was once believed to be the case. In contrast, the French presence (1,500 troops each time) in Djibouti and Chad remains unchanged.

“We want to go fast”

“No change in axis”We are angry at the Élysée, recalling that the principle of reducing the French military presence in Africa has been on track since February 2023, when the President announced it on the eve of his trip to the continent. “But there are factors that lead us to move forward

We add. We wanted to move away from a model where we were present in capitals for a very small footprint. »

The coup in Niger in July 2023 played a crucial role in this restructuring. Under pressure from activists, the forced withdrawal was completed in late December. After Mali and Burkina Faso. And now, at Elysée and within the general staff, we say we are in a hurry to move on. “We want to go fast”We maintain on the Presidency of the Republic, while specifying that “Method” To be discussed with partner countries.

The project, it has been explained to the military headquarters, is to limit the assignments of soldiers to their families, who maintain the image of France in isolation, in order to achieve bases considered simple. “courtier”

. In short, areas with limited visibility, but for which it would be possible to change the number of personnel for one-off missions. Forward and backward principles according to the needs of the partners (…) Each has its own uniqueness.”We clarify on Elysee.

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