Africa on ‘France Out’ campaign, ally Ivory Coast latest to join the bandwagon

Ivory Coast has become the latest African country to join the ‘France Out’ campaign.

Within weeks of Senegal and Chad telling France to withdraw its troops from their territories, Ivory Coast also conveyed to France on Wednesday (January 1) that it needs to withdraw its soldiers.

While these nations say they are evicting French soldiers over sovereignty concerns, neocolonial business practices, and patronising attitude of France, the fact that such moves have come at a time when Russia is making inroads in the continent cannot be missed.

France is the former colonial power of Western Africa and has acted as the traditional security guarantor in the region. In the Sahel region comprising the nations of Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Gambia, Guinea Mauritania, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, and Senegal, France has repeatedly intervened militarily over the years to contain the Islamist insurgency. However, such interventions have been used by critics to incite opposition to both France and elected governments in the region.

Despite years of counter-insurgency activities, at least six countries have asked France to withdraw soldiers: Ivory Coast, Chad, Senegal, Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger. Once France is out of these countries, its military footprint in the region would be just limited to Djibouti and Gabon.

While the orders to leave the territory in other nations came after coups —Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger— there was no such coup in Senegal or Chad. Meanwhile, Gabon continues to host French troops despite the coup.

The decision of Ivory Coast took many observers by surprise as the country has been a staunch ally of Frace. However, President Alassane Ouattara said in an address broadcast to the nation Tuesday night that the country’s military’s modernisation was over and there was no longer a requirement of French soldiers.

“We can be proud of our army, whose modernisation is now complete. ,It is in this context that we have decided on the coordinated and organized withdrawal of French forces from the Ivory Coast,” said Ouattara

In a recent joint statement carried by New York Times, Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger called the French government “imperialist French junta”. The further said that French bases where merely an attempt to make France’s “neocolonial inclinations” less visible in the region.

Even as these countries have enthusiastically evicted French troops, the security situation in the region has worsened in the absence of French troops, with rising attacks by terrorists on civilians, according to Associated Press.

The forced flight of French troops has been followed by the entry of Russian mercenaries in the region.

Even before Ivory Coast’s decision, the fate of French influence in the region was seen as having been sealed. Mucahid Durmaz, a senior analyst at global risk consultancy Verisk Maplecroft, told AP that “Chad’s decision marks the final nail in the coffin of France’s post-colonial military dominance in the entire Sahel region”.

Durmaz further said that decisions by Senegal and Chad “are part of the wider structural transformation in the region’s engagement with France, in which Paris political and military influence continues to diminish”.