Senegalese President Bassirou Diomaye Faye recently announced the planned withdrawal of all foreign troops, including the French military, from Senegalese territory by the year 2025. This decision is part of a broader context, while Alassane Ouattara, the Ivorian president, confirmed the handover of the French military base in Abidjan to Ivory Coast.
These announcements had the effect of a thunderbolt in Paris, where they are seen as a setback for France’s African policy. Jean-Luc Mélenchon, leader of the La France Insoumise (LFI) movement, reacted on X (formerly Twitter), expressing his support for these decisions and calling for a paradigm shift in relations between France and Africa. “The French army is expelled from Ivory Coast by the man it had installed in power. And from Senegal. Wiped off the map, the old world must not drag us into its nothingness. It is time for France to move on to other relations with the people of Africa. The rebellious diplomatic model is the future,” he wrote.
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Jean-Luc Mélenchon, who was the first French politician to be invited by the new Senegalese power, sees this withdrawal as an opportunity to redefine France’s diplomatic ties with the African continent, far from the colonial heritage and old practices. military cooperation.
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