In 1960, France maintained sixty thousand men in nearly ninety garrisons in Africa. Sixty-five years later, what remains of the French military presence? Not much: two bases, one in Gabon and the other in Djibouti.
Until recently, the continent was home to French forces stationed in nine countries, namely Mali, Senegal, Niger, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Gabon, Djibouti, Chad and Central African Republic.
After a series of military putsches in 2022 and 2023 in Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso, the latter pushed French forces outside their borders. And in 2024, Senegal, Ivory Coast and Chad also demanded the departure of the French army. In fact, N’Djamena announced at the end of November the termination of the defense agreement which linked it to France. A turnaround “which marks a historic turning point”, according to the press release from the Chadian government wanting to “affirm its full sovereignty and redefine its strategic partnerships”. For Paris, the announcement of Chad, France’s last strong ally in the Sahel, expresses a real failure. Since independence in 1960, France has almost continuously carried out numerous external operations in this Sahelian country which has seen generations of French officers and soldiers follow one another.
For some, France did not take stock of the evolution of the African context and wanted to operate in half measures by wanting to reduce the workforce, as was planned from 2022, and not directly close the bases.
This cascade of unit withdrawals demonstrates the lack of anticipation and opens the way to the presence of other countries, Russia in particular with its state mercenary companies. Thus, after several Sahel states, Senegal and Chad have recently tightened exchanges with Moscow and left the field open to Islamist terrorist organizations which are intensifying their presence in the Sahel countries and their neighbors. Terrorist groups exploit community grievances, inequalities and ethnic marginalization. Togo and Benin are now under attack. And the local armies are for the most part incapable of opposing and defeating the jihadist threat.
-It is certainly the end of rotating companies in Africa; but in the future there will be operations carried out by the French army to exfiltrate expatriates or protect oil production sites or strategic raw materials. One day opex, always opex!
Happy reading
Eric Micheletti
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