Emmanuel Macron is back in Africa to celebrate Christmas with French soldiers deployed abroad. The President of the Republic will arrive this Friday in Djibouti, where the largest foreign French military base is located. It is also one of the last in Africa since France was expelled from Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso, before being forced to close its bases in Chad and Senegal.
Sustained by the renewal of the military cooperation treaty between the two countries, the Djibouti base and its 1,500 soldiers play a role different from that of the other French establishments. “This strategic pole is not turned towards Africa, but towards the Near East, the Middle East and the Indo-Pacific”, recalls Antoine Glaser, author of the book Macron’s African Trap (Fayard).
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Chinese and American competition
France has long maintained an almost exclusive relationship with its former colony, the last to gain independence in 1977. Since the 2000s, competition has been tough and Djibouti has been highly coveted. France has successively seen the establishment of an American base with 4,000 soldiers and then the only Chinese base abroad. German, Italian, Spanish and Japanese soldiers are also deployed in this small country which saw a quarter of the world’s container traffic and 6% of oil before the attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebels in the Red Sea in retaliation against the war in Gaza.
“France had difficulty keeping its base in Djibouti,” explains Antoine Glaser. Djibouti President Ismaïl Omar Guelleh upped the ante. “France had to pay. Initially, she paid nothing in exchange for the security of Djibouti. The rent was then set at 30 million euros per year. We are now talking about 70 or 85 million euros. »
A visit to Ethiopia beyond the confines
If France plans to keep its bases in Ivory Coast and Gabon, it will reduce the number of soldiers and redefine their missions. “The soldiers will no longer be deployed under the French flag and will mainly do training,” explains Antoine Glaser.
Emmanuel Macron’s visit to Djibouti will also be devoted to regional crises, notably the terrible war in Sudan. There will also be a question of space cooperation. France will help Djibouti launch Earth observation satellites to fight climate change.
Emmanuel Macron will then fly to Ethiopia for a brief trip symbolizing France’s new African policy. “It’s a new opportunity to get out of the confines of the former colonies in Africa,” observes Antoine Glaser. The French president does not hold grudges. “He was fooled during his previous visit to Ethiopia in 2019. The Nobel Peace Prize awarded to Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed preceded a bloody war in his country,” recalls the specialist in African geopolitics.
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