France on Friday began handing over military bases in Senegal, as part of a withdrawal of troops from the west African nation where it has had a presence since 1960.
The withdrawal follows the departure of French forces from Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Chad and Ivory Coast in recent years.
The French embassy in Dakar announced that facilities and housing in the Marechal and Saint-Exupery districts of the capital had been transferred to Senegalese control.
Others “will be returned according to the jointly agreed schedule”, it added, without specifying a timeline.
France announced on 12 February that it had set up a joint commission with Senegal to organise the arrangements for the withdrawal of French troops and the return of the sites by the end of this year.
The embassy said the commission met for the first time on February 28.
“The commission also launched work to overhaul the bilateral defence and security partnership,” a statement read.
Senegal gained independence from France in 1960 but has remained one of its former colonial ruler’s closest allies in west Africa.
But after its election in 2024, Senegal’s new government has promised to treat France as an equal to other foreign partners.
SovereigntyÂ
President Bassirou Diomaye Faye, who swept to power on an agenda of change and national self-sufficiency, announced in November that all French and foreign troops would leave Senegal by the end of 2025.
Faye describes himself as a left-wing pan-Africanist.
“Senegal is an independent, sovereign country and sovereignty does not accommodate the presence of (foreign) military bases in a sovereign country,” he said in a speech in December.
French forces have withdrawn from other African countries. They left their last base in Chad at the end of January, after the surprise end to military cooperation agreements between Paris and N’Djamena.
The French government has said it wants to reorganise its military presence in Africa and withdrew troops from Ivory Coast on February 20.
Soldiers involved in anti-jihadist operations have also left Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger in recent years after a series of coups and hostility from local ruling military.
In Senegal, local staff working for the French military will lose their jobs on July 1, the troops’ commander wrote in a letter to a local labour leader.
French military bases in Dakar and the surrounding area directly employ 162 staff, while between 400 and 500 people work in subcontracted industries.
The French army held a careers forum on Thursday to offer “redeployment opportunities” within local companies for the 162 set to be made redundant.
