Final post: France's military disengagement from Africa continues with Senegal exit
A remnant of French colonialism in Senegal has now disappeared. In a very modest ceremony on Thursday, the French army officially handed over the keys to Camp Geille to the country's authorities. Located in the centre of the capital, Dakar, the camp had been occupied by French forces since Senegal's independence in 1960 and was still home to 350 troops.
'This handover carries strong symbolic weight, as Dakar was the former capital of French West Africa and the leaders of both countries long maintained very close ties,' noted Pierre Jacquemot, former ambassador and member of the Observatory for Sub-Saharan Africa at the Jean Jaurès Foundation.
The evacuation of the military bases in Senegal, which began in March, is another step in France's military disengagement from Africa.
Following a series of coups in the Sahel, French troops have since 2022 been forced to leave Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger, where they were swiftly replaced by soldiers from the Africa Corps, a special unit of the Russian defence ministry.
French forces were also asked to withdraw from Chad last December. And at the end of February 2025, France handed over to Côte d'Ivoire the 43rd Marine Infantry Battalion's military camp in Abidjan, leaving only two remaining installations on the continent: one in Djibouti and one in Gabon.
France 'is reorganising'
On 6 January, during his address to ambassadors, Emmanuel Macron insisted that 'France is not retreating in Africa' but rather 'reorganising." The French president sparked controversy at the time by suggesting that African leaders had 'forgotten to say thank you to France' for its military support against Sahelian jihadists.
That remark did not sit well with Senegalese Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko, who responded just a few hours later, arguing that Paris had 'often contributed to destabilising certain African countries such as Libya, with disastrous consequences for the stability and security of the Sahel."
Brought to power in spring 2024, Senegalese President Bassirou Diomaye Faye announced that all foreign military presence on national soil would end in 2025. However, Dakar's authorities insist that this does not represent a 'break' with Paris, but rather the need to build a 'renewed partnership' with the former colonial power.
'The new team that came to power in Senegal a year and a half ago – much younger than its predecessors – has a sovereignist agenda and seeks to regain full autonomy, which is, of course, incompatible with the continued presence of foreign troops,' Jacquemot added.
Economic ties between Senegal and France nonetheless remain strong. During a visit to Dakar last March, Thani Mohamed-Soilihi, Minister Delegate for Francophonie and International Partnerships, noted that France was Senegal's leading provider of public aid and top foreign investor, with '€3.5 billion invested in 250 projects' in 2024.
New players
'Willingly or not, France is undergoing a 'banalization' of its relations with a number of African countries,' said Caroline Roussy, director of research at the French Institute for International and Strategic Affairs (IRIS). 'Dakar's authorities have been attempting for several years to forge partnerships with other countries, but these efforts remain rather haphazard for now,' she added.
At the end of June, Prime Minister Sonko was in Beijing to sign a 'strategic partnership' with China, aimed at boosting cooperation 'within the Global South," according to President Xi Jinping, as discussions also touched on Chinese investment in energy and digital infrastructure.
China was already Africa's leading trading partner in the first half of 2024, with €151 billion in trade, and Beijing had pledged just a year earlier €45 billion in 'financial support' over three years to African countries.
'It is difficult to identify a single overarching trend in France's relations with African countries, as they are deeply influenced by local political dynamics,' Roussy continued. 'But there is no doubt that many feel they have long played the role of Paris's lackeys, without reaping the benefits they had hoped for.'
More than 65 years after the end of colonisation, it is therefore 'only natural' that countries on the continent are now looking to 'open up to new partners," said Jacquemot.
(mm)
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