Three days after his visit to France, President Macron made another decision for Bassirou Diomaye Faye.
The former Secretary of State under Nicolas Sarkozy, Jean-Marie Bockel, named “personal envoy” of President Emmanuel Macron in February, will soon go to Dakar, reports Jeune Afrique.
The media does not specify the exact date of this visit to the Senegalese capital.
Bockel, who recently made several trips to Abidjan, N’Djamena and Libreville, will travel to Senegal to discuss in particular the French military presence.
Paris plans to reduce the number of its soldiers in Africa and readjust its military bases by directing them towards the training of African armies or logistical support.
“ It is a dialogue that will be open with the States concerned. Decisions will be made based on local contexts and partner expectations. The idea will be to co-construct », Explains a source at the Élysée cited by Jeune Afrique.
Let us recall that the Prime Minister, Ousmane Sonko, declared last May that the lasting maintenance of the French military presence in Dakar was “ incompatible with Senegal’s desire to dispose of itself “.
He specifies that this did not, however, call into question the defense agreements with France.
“ We can have defense agreements without this justifying that a third of the Dakar region is occupied today by foreign garrisons “, he clarified.
As a reminder, currently, 350 French soldiers are deployed in Senegal.
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