France Creates African Command Within Armed Forces
12:09 28.06.2024 (Updated: 12:53 01.07.2024)
© AP Photo / Harouna Traore
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MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The French government has established an African command within the country's armed forces, appointing Brig. Gen. Pascal Ianni as its commander.
Paris is reviewing its military presence in Africa, and the French army has set up an African command for the continent, according to the government's decree.
"Brigadier General Pascal Ianni has been appointed commander-in-chief of the African command," the government said in a decree on military appointments published on Thursday, adding that Ianni would take command on August 1.
Discussions of the creation of the African command were being held against the backdrop of Paris reducing the number of its troops on the continent, sources told AFP earlier in the month, adding that the country's government planned to reduce its contingent in West and Central Africa to several hundred troops as part of an updated, more restrained partnership.
Paris plans to deploy about 100 troops in Gabon and Senegal, down from the 350 previously deployed in each country. The military presence in Cote d'Ivoire is reportedly to be reduced from 600 to about 100, while in Chad, France will deploy around 300 troops, as opposed to the 1,000 previously present in the African country.
In 2022, the French military, which had been present in Africa's Sahel region since 2014 as part of the anti-terrorism operation Barkhane, was forced to leave Mali. In November 2022, French President Emmanuel Macron announced the end of Operation Barkhane in the Sahara-Sahel region. At the end of 2022, French troops also left Niger after the country's coup-installed authorities severed ties with Paris. In March 2023, the authorities of Burkina Faso announced the denunciation of the military assistance treaty with France, signed over 60 years ago. The Foreign Ministry of Burkina Faso also notified the French side that the French military must leave the country within a month.
