AA/Tunis
Emmanuel Macron’s personal envoy for Africa said Friday that there is no “request for departure” of French troops from the heads of state of Gabon, Chad and Ivory Coast.
Jean-Marie Bockel spoke in an interview with France 24.
For several of our partners, what counts tomorrow is not “the number” of French soldiers, but “the quality of the partnership”, affirmed the one charged by Macron with the reconfiguration of the French military system established in Senegal, in Ivory Coast, Gabon and Chad.
In Senegal, Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko nevertheless declared that the sovereignty of his country was “incompatible with the lasting presence of foreign military bases in Senegal”, recalls the French media. But Jean-Marie Bockel believes that the term “sustainable” suggests “that there can be many perspectives in the long term”. He also recalls that Senegal is currently “in an electoral sequence”, since the legislative elections must be held there on November 17.
Jean-Marie Bockel does not deny the information relayed by the press, according to which the numbers in the bases in Gabon, Ivory Coast and Senegal could be reduced to around a hundred men each, while the bases French troops in Chad number a total of 300 men. He insists on the fact that these bases would now be attached to a base in the host country, reports France 24.
Recommendations regarding the number of soldiers who would remain on post are included in a classified pre-report, recently submitted to the President of the Republic.
As for the withdrawal of French troops from Mali, Niger in 2022, then Burkina Faso in 2023 – frequently described as “a failure for Paris” – Jean-Marie Bockel qualifies: “A political failure, surely, a tactical and military failure, No”. According to him, Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger “would perhaps no longer exist” without Operation Barkhane, which was created to fight against jihadist groups in the Sahel, finally underlines the French media.
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