French army leaves Senegal

FRANCE on Thursday formally handed back its last two military bases in Senegal, leaving Paris with no permanent army camps in either West or Central Africa.

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Ending the French army’s 65 years in independent Senegal, the pullout comes after similar withdrawals across the continent, with former colonies increasingly turning their backs on their former ruler.

The move comes as the Sahel region faces a growing jihadist conflict across Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger that is threatening the wider west African region.

A recent string of attacks this month in Mali included an assault on a town on the border with Senegal.

France returned Camp Geille, its largest base in the west African country, and its airfield at Dakar airport, in a ceremony attended by top French and Senegalese officials.

They included Senegalese chief of staff General Mbaye Cisse and General Pascal Ianni, the head of the French forces in Africa.

Cisse said the handover marked “an important turning point in the rich and long military journey of our two countries”.

He said the “new objectives” were aimed at “giving new content to the security partnership”.

Senegalese troops were working “to consolidate the numerous skills gained it its quest for strategic autonomy”, he added.

The general ended his speech with a quote from Antoine de Saint-Exupery, the French author of The Little Prince, who spent several months in Dakar: “For each ending there is always a new departure.”