Ivory Coast is the latest country in West Africa to expel former colonial troops after Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger.
Ivory Coast has announced that French troops will leave the country this month after decades of military presence, becoming the latest country in Africa to cut military ties with its former colonial power.
In the end of the year speech to the nation on Tuesday, President Alassane Ouattara said the 43rd BIMA group of marines in Port-Bouet in Abidjan – where the French military was stationed – “has been handed over” to the Ivorian army. January 2025.
“We can be proud of our army, whose modernization is effective. That is why we have decided to withdraw the French forces in a coordinated and systematic manner” in the Ivory Coast, Ouattara said.
France, whose colonial rule in West Africa ended in the 1960s, has about 1,000 troops in Ivory Coast, according to reports.
Ivory Coast is the latest country in West Africa to expel French troops Money, Burkina Faso and Niger. In November, within hours of each other, Senegal and Chad he also announced the withdrawal of French troops from their country.
On December 26, France returned for the first time soldiers in Chadthe last country in the Sahel to have French troops.
Ivory Coast remains an important ally of France. The decline in military ties comes as France tries to revive its political and military influence on the African continent by planning a new military strategy that would significantly reduce its global military presence.
France has now withdrawn from more than 70 percent of African countries where it has had troops since the end of its colonial rule. The French remain in Djibouti, with 1,500 soldiers, and in Gabon, with 350 personnel.
Analysts have described the move as one way to change the way the region and Paris operate as France's sentiments grow, especially in countries that have fallen.
After expelling French troops, the military leaders of Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso have approached Russia.