In an end-of-year address on Tuesday, President Alassane Ouattara declared that the 43rd BIMA marine infantry battalion stationed at Port-Bouët in Abidjan would be handed over to the Ivory Coast armed forces by January 2025.

“We can be proud of our army, whose modernisation is now effective. It is in this context that we have decided on the concerted and organised withdrawal of French forces from Ivory Coast,” President Ouattara announced.

President Alassane Ouattara has announced the withdrawal of French forces from Ivory Coast on Tuesday, December 31, 2024.

France’s presence in West Africa, once robust, has been rapidly diminishing. Ivory Coast follows nations such as Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Senegal, and Chad in scaling back or completely severing military ties with Paris.

Notably, Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger expelled French troops after military coups, shifting towards alliances with Russia.

In November, Senegal and Chad both announced the departure of French forces, signaling a shift in regional security dynamics. On December 26, France officially returned its first military base to Chad, marking the end of its military presence in the Sahel region.

The decision to remove French forces has been tied to growing local sentiments against French influence. Analysts see this as part of a broader transformation in Africa’s relationship with its former coloniser.

While France ended its colonial rule in West Africa in the 1960s, its military presence has often been viewed as a lingering symbol of external control.

In Senegal, President Bassirou Diomaye Faye recently reinforced this sentiment, citing the incompatibility of military bases with national independence.

“Senegal is an independent and sovereign country, and sovereignty does not accommodate the presence of military bases,” Faye said in an interview commemorating the 80th anniversary of the Thiaroye massacre, where French forces killed hundreds of African riflemen demanding their pay.

Faye also called for further investigations into the incident, which French President Emmanuel Macron has officially recognized as a massacre.

France’s diminishing footprint on the continent has now resulted in its expulsion from more than 70 percent of the African countries where it maintained a military presence after the end of colonial rule.

The French military’s permanent presence is now limited to Djibouti, with 1,500 soldiers, and Gabon, with 350 personnel.

France's diminishing footprint on the continent has now resulted in its expulsion from more than 70 percent of the African countries where it maintained a military presence after the end of colonial rule.