About 350 French soldiers are leaving Senegal, marking the end of a departure process that began in March.
France has officially handed over its two remaining military bases in Senegal, leaving the onetime colonial power with no permanent presence in either West or Central Africa.
France returned Camp Geille, its largest base in Senegal, and its airfield at Dakar’s airport in a ceremony on Thursday attended by top French and Senegalese officials, including Senegalese Chief of the General Staff Mbaye Cisse and General Pascal Ianni, the head of the French forces in Africa.
The pullout ends the French army’s 65-year presence in Senegal and comes after similar withdrawals across the continent as former colonies increasingly turn their backs on the nation that once ruled them.
France’s withdrawal from Senegal also comes as the Sahel region faces a growing conflict. The violence across Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger is threatening Gulf of Guinea nations to the south.
About 350 French soldiers, who had primarily been tasked with conducting joint operations with the Senegalese army, are now leaving the country, marking the end of a departure process that began in March.
General Cisse said the handover marked “an important turning point in the rich and long military journey of our two countries”.
France is “reinventing partnerships in a dynamic Africa”, Ianni said. “We are turning a page in the military history of our two countries, … a very special relationship and one essential for the countries of the region.”
After storming to victory in elections last year by promising dramatic change, Senegalese President Bassirou Diomaye Faye demanded France withdraw its soldiers by 2025.
However, unlike the leaders of other former French colonies such as Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger, which are run by military governments, 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 has also urged France 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 the numbers of its soldiers at bases across its former empire.
In February, France handed back its sole remaining base in Ivory Coast, ending decades of French presence there.
The month before, France turned over the Kossei base in Chad, its last military foothold in the Sahel region.
Coups in Burkina Faso, Niger and Mali from 2020 to 2023 have swept military strongmen to power. Their governments have collectively ejected 4,300 French soldiers. All three countries have cut ties with France and turned to Russia instead for help in fighting the Sahel’s decade-long unrest.
The Central African Republic, also a former French colony to which the Kremlin has sent mercenaries, has likewise demanded a French pullout.
Meanwhile, the French army has turned its base in Gabon into a camp shared with its Central African host.
Only the tiny Horn of Africa nation of Djibouti will be home to a permanent French army base after Thursday’s withdrawal. France intends to make that base with about 1,500 people its military headquarters for Africa.
