As suggested by some indiscretions committed in recent months, the report that Jean-Marie Bockel has just submitted to President Macron recommends drastically reducing the military presence in Africa. Which is also in line with the line set by the Élysée in February 2023, which planned to reconfigure the current system while reinforcing a logic of partnership with the local armed forces.
According to figures mentioned at the beginning of last summer, the number of French forces prepositioned in Africa [excepté Djibouti, qui relève de la stratégie pour l’Indopacifique] should be reduced from 2,300 to only 600 soldiers [300 au Tchad, 100 au Gabon, 100 en Côte d’Ivoire et 100 au Sénégal].
In October, during a hearing in the Senate, the report of which has just been published, the chief of staff of the armed forces [CEMA]General Thierry Burkhard, once again justified this development.
“In Africa, our previous system was effective but the balance was negative between the effects produced by our presence and the return to the field of perceptions,” he said. “We are therefore transforming our presence and command structures, in particular with the creation of an Africa command. The ongoing reorganization is already bearing fruit,” he added.
However, it is still a question of “fighting terrorism”, of “participating in the control of illegal immigration”, of “countering the influences of our strategic competitors” and of contributing to “the protection of the environment and to combat the effects of climate change.
However, for this, continued the CEMA, it “is necessary to lower the visibility of the French presence by avoiding locating bases in capitals and by reducing both the footprint and the adhesions”. Also, “we are therefore moving from a logic of permanent deployment to temporary deployments of forces carrying out missions, with the support of a much smaller and less visible base”, he explained, before specifying that “our deployments [devront] be guided by the demands of the countries concerned and by our abilities to respond to them.”
If they are called upon to reduce their size in Africa, French forces will however strengthen their presence in other latitudes, in particular in the United Arab Emirates. This is in fact the announcement made by Sébastien Lecornu, the Minister of the Armed Forces, in the pages of the daily L'Opinion, this November 27.
As part of a defense agreement signed in 2008, French Forces in the United Arab Emirates [FFEAU] have between 650 and 700 soldiers. They have the benefit of a naval base as well as that of air base 104 of Al Dhafra, which houses the six Rafales of the 1/7 Provence Fighter Squadron. Finally, the 5th Cuirassier Regiment [RC] took up residence in Zayed Military City, 65 km from Abu Dhabi.
This unit includes a command and logistics squadron, a squadron equipped with 16 Leclerc tanks, an infantry section equipped with VBCI and an artillery subgroup implementing five CAESAr [Camions équipés d’un système d’artillerie]. It is therefore a question of expanding it.
“France offers answers, in terms of training and equipment. This is the opportunity for me to announce that from 2025, France will strengthen its military presence in the Emirates, where we have a land – air – sea base in Abu Dhabi. We have decided to permanently deploy an infantry company there – around a hundred men – within the 5th Cuirassier Regiment, which already has Leclerc tanks and CAESArs,” said Mr. Lecornu, who also confided that “engineering capabilities” could be sent to Zayed Military City.
“It is a way of operationally bringing our defense agreement with the United Arab Emirates to life,” explained Mr. Lecornu.
According to the General Staff of the Armed Forces, three missions are assigned to the FFEAU: supporting French operational deployments in the region, developing cooperation with the Emirati forces and welcoming “troops from mainland France and foreign contingents to perfect their hardening in the environment. desert and urban areas in the Middle East.
