DAKAR: France on Thursday formally handed back its last two military bases in Senegal, leaving Paris with no permanent camps in either west or central Africa.
Ending the French army’s 65 years in Senegal, the pull-out comes after similar withdrawals across the continent, with former colonies increasingly turning their backs on their former ruler.
The French withdrawal comes as the Sahel region faces a growing jihadist conflict across Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger that is threatening Gulf of Guinea nations to the south. A recent string of attacks this month in Mali included an assault on a town on the border with Senegal.
France returned Camp Geille, its largest base in the west African country, and its airfield at Dakar airport, in a ceremony attended by top French and Senegalese officials, including Senegalese chief of staff General Mbaye Cisse and General Pascal Ianni, the head of the French forces in Africa.
Around 350 French soldiers, primarily tasked with conducting joint operations with the Senegalese army, are now leaving, marking the end of a three-month departure process that began in March.
After storming to victory in 2024 elections promising radical change, Senegal’s President Bassirou Diomaye Faye demanded France withdraw troops from the country by 2025.
Unlike the leaders of other former colonies such as junta-run Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger, however, Faye has insisted that Senegal will keep working with Paris.
After gaining independence in 1960, Senegal became one of France’s staunchest African allies, playing host to French troops throughout its history.
Faye’s predecessor, Macky Sall, continued that tradition.
Faye, who ran on a ticket promising a clean break with the Sall era, has said that Senegal would treat France like any other foreign partner.
Pledging to make his country more self-sufficient, the president gave a deadline of the end of 2025 for all foreign armies to withdraw.
“Senegal is an independent country, it is a sovereign country and sovereignty does not accept the presence of military bases in a sovereign country,” Faye said at the end of 2024, while maintaining that “France remains an important partner for Senegal”.
Faye has also urged Paris to apologise for colonial atrocities, including the massacre on December 1, 1944 of dozens of African troops who had fought for France in World War II.
With governments across Africa increasingly questioning France’s military presence, Paris has closed or reduced numbers at bases across its former empire.
In February France handed back its sole remaining base in Ivory Coast, ending decades of French presence at the site.
The month before, France turned over the Kossei base in Chad, its last military foothold in the unrest-hit Sahel region.
Coups in Burkina Faso, Niger and Mali between 2020 and 2023 have swept military strongmen to power. All have cut ties with France and turned to Russia instead for help in fighting the Sahel’s decade-long jihadist insurgency.
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