Musings From Abroad

France to withdraw forces from West and Central Africa

Published

2 weeks ago

June 17, 2024

According to three sources quoted by AFP, France intends to scale back its military deployment in West and Central Africa to about 600 soldiers in keeping with President Emmanuel Macron’s intentions to lessen France’s military footprint in the area.

Given the strong anti-French sentiment in several former colonies and the competition for influence from nations like Russia, Macron declared in February 2023 that there would be a “noticeable reduction” in the number of French troops stationed in Africa.

A strategy being discussed with allies in Africa indicates that France intends to significantly scale back its so-called “pre-positioned” forces in the continent.

Two government-affiliated sources, as well as a military source, claim that France will only maintain about 100 troops in Senegal, West Africa, down from 350 currently, and about 100 in Gabon, Central Africa.

Paris intends to maintain about 300 troops in Chad, in north-central Africa, down from 1,000 currently, and about 100 troops in Ivory Coast, on the southern coast of West Africa.

According to the three sources, the diminished presence can occasionally be increased in response to the demands of regional partners. The French General Staff was contacted by AFP, but they declined to comment.

Up until two years ago, France maintained around 5,000 troops in the Sahel region of Africa as part of the Barkhane anti-jihadist campaign, in addition to the about 1,600 forces that were pre-deployed in Gabon and West Africa. However, the juntas that took over in Mali in 2021, Burkina Faso in 2022, and Niger in 2023 have been steadily driving it out.

Now, all three nations have security agreements in place with Russia, which has been looking to increase its influence throughout the continent. The final nation in the Sahel to get French forces is Chad, which is led by Mahamat Idriss Deby, the son of Idriss Deby Itno, a former president who served for more than 30 years.

Related Topics:#CHAD #niger Africa Featured France

Click to comment

Musings From Abroad

Kenya: US condemns violence as Ruto reverses tax law

Published

24 hours ago

June 27, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

The violence in Kenya, where doctors reported that 23 people had died this week following violent battles between protesters and police, has been condemned by the United States.

William Ruto, the President of Kenya, backed down on Wednesday from his plans to raise taxes in response to protesters who had invaded parliament, started nationwide rallies, and threatened to take further action this week.

In the most critical crisis of Ruto’s two-year administration, the move will be viewed as a huge success for a week-old, youth-led protest movement that evolved from online condemnations of tax rises into large-scale marches seeking a political overhaul.

On social media, however, some protestors said that they would still go ahead with Thursday’s march despite Ruto’s backpedalling, with many of them restating their demands that he step down.

A day after violence between police and protestors at the assembly and across the country left at least 23 people dead and several others wounded, according to medics, Ruto declared he would not sign a finance measure that included the tax increases.

“The United States is deeply concerned about and we condemn the reported violence in all its forms,” White House national security spokesman John Kirby told reporters.

Shortly after MPs passed the tax proposals on Tuesday, police opened fire on crowds who had gathered around parliament and then broke into the assembly’s enclosure.

“The United States has been in touch with the Kenyan government to urge appropriate use of force by the police, to respect human rights … and we will continue to push for calm to prevail,” said Kirby.

Musings From Abroad

US intelligence warns of escalating insurgencies in West Africa following withdrawal from Niger

Published

1 day ago

June 27, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

American officials are cautioning that it is getting harder to keep an eye on the escalating insurgencies in West Africa as the United States military gathers what remains of its supplies and counterterrorism forces in Niger.

The military authorities of Niger have given the United States until September 15th to withdraw its forces from the nation. This includes closing a $100 million drone base close to Agadez in central Niger, which served as a vital source of intelligence regarding organizations associated with the Islamic State and al Qaeda.

“Our ability to monitor the threat is degraded because of the loss of Agadez,” one U.S. official told Reuters in an interview, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The expansion of the Islamic State and the al Qaeda affiliate Jama’a Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin (JNIM) are of special worry to U.S. officials.

The main difficulty facing Michael Langley, the four-star Marine general in charge of American forces in Africa, is predicting when extremist organizations would develop to the point where they could pose a threat to the US or Europe.

“It has the potential (to become a threat to the United States) as they grow in numbers. But we want to be able to monitor … to see if it metastasizes into increased capability,” Langley said, speaking on the sidelines of a conference of African chiefs of defence in Botswana.

Experts warn that it won’t be simple, and some compare it to Afghanistan, where information about the Islamic State and al Qaeda is collected at a far lower level than it was prior to the withdrawal of the United States and the Taliban takeover in 2021.

“When we leave an area like the Sahel and Afghanistan, we not only cannot (act on) an immediate threat with military and intelligence forces, we don’t know about the plotting of an attack because of our reduced (intelligence) collection capabilities,” said Mick Mulroy, a former senior Pentagon official and CIA officer.