French forces having been successively pushed out of Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger between 2022 and 2023, before recently suddenly becoming unwanted in Chad and Senegal while being reduced to the bare minimum in Gabon and Ivory Coast, Emmanuel Macron had few other options than Djibouti to spend Christmas – in anticipation – with French soldiers on mission abroad, as he has done since his first election in 2017, except for the Covid years (2020 and 2021).
He will be there, Friday December 20, at this pivotal point of the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, vital for international trade, on what now constitutes the most important French operational base abroad; less substantial than before, but still considered essential in France’s defense architecture in this part of the world. Between a visit, Thursday and Friday, to the bedside of the inhabitants of the island of Mayotte, ravaged by the deadly cyclone Chido, and a quick trip to Ethiopia on Saturday, the president and head of the armed forces will be in Djibouti “to show the soldiers the gratitude of the nation”.
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