At a pivotal time, Paris is reviewing its military presence in Africa. The French army has set up a command for Africa, as the American armies have long done, while French military personnel are in sharp decline on the continent, according to the Official Journal.
The Official Journal dated Wednesday states that “Brigadier General Pascal Ianni (is) appointed general commanding the command for Africa” from August 1. A former member of the military cabinet of Minister of the Armed Forces Florence Parly, General Ianni also held the position of spokesperson for the Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces. He was currently in charge of anticipation and strategy within the General Staff of the Armed Forces, specializing in issues of influence and information warfare.
This unprecedented creation in France of an Africa command, announced by several corroborating sources to AFP in mid-June, comes as Paris plans to reduce its military presence in West and Central Africa to a few hundred men, in the framework of “renovated” and more discreet partnerships. A change decided after bitter disappointments in the Sahel.
Around 600 soldiers
According to the plan envisaged by the executive, revealed to AFP by three corroborating sources and currently discussed with African partners, France will in principle only keep around a hundred soldiers in Gabon (compared to 350 today), around a hundred in Senegal (compared to 350), around a hundred in Ivory Coast (600 today) and around 300 in Chad (1,000 currently). The system should thus have around 600 soldiers in the future, but will be expected to grow occasionally depending on the needs of the partners, according to these three sources.
The French base in Djibouti, which hosts 1,500 French soldiers, is not affected by this reduction in size.
Two years ago, in addition to some 1,600 forces pre-positioned in West Africa and Gabon, the former colonial power had more than 5,000 soldiers in the Sahel as part of the anti-jihadist operation Barkhane. It was gradually pushed out by the juntas that came to power in Bamako (2021-2022), Ouagadougou and Niamey (2023).
In February, President Emmanuel Macron commissioned former minister Jean-Marie Bockel to discuss with African partners the new arrangements for the French military presence on their soil. Its conclusions are expected in July.