what remains of this last important French military base in Africa?

The Head of State must participate in the traditional Christmas dinner for French troops in Djibouti on Friday evening. This base must in particular play a vital role in sending relief to Mayotte, devastated by Cyclone Chido.

After Mayotte, Emmanuel Macron is expected Friday December 20, late in the afternoon, in Djibouti. The President of the Republic must dine there – it is the traditional Christmas dinner for French troops – with the 1,500 men and women of the French forces stationed in Djibouti. The last important base of the French army in Africa and which will have its role to play in the relief provided to Mayotte.

We are talking about a French military base in Djibouti, but it is in fact a much more complex system. Djibouti is above all what we call a “support point”: a place where planes and ships can come to refuel, including for heavy emergency operations, like a quasi-airlift. for Mayotte.

The operational energy service in Djibouti has the storage and distribution means to cope with this type of operation, explains Lieutenant-Colonel Eric, the head of the service. Operation Sagittarius to evacuate nationals in Sudan was supported from Djibouti. In three days, we distributed as much as we usually do in a month and a half without reinforcements from mainland France.”

The base also hosts a joint medical-surgical center, a real small hospital which could serve as a relay point. Chief physician Alain Puidupin directs the center. “We are a relay, the families who will eventually make a stopover, the repatriations, the civilians who are going to the mainland, if ever there is a stop here, we will be there to ensure optimal care, while ‘they are taking the plane again to go to mainland France’, he explains.

The Djibouti medical-surgical center could accommodate around thirty patients simultaneously, enough to relieve the hospital structures in Mayotte.