Senegal’s President Bassirou Dioumaye Faye said that 2025 would see an end to all foreign military presence in the west African country, in a speech on Tuesday to mark the new year.
Faye’s statement came a month after he announced that former colonial master France would have to close its military bases in Senegal.
“I have instructed the minister for the armed forces to propose a new doctrine for cooperation in defence and security, involving, among other consequences, the end of all foreign military presences in Senegal from 2025,” said Faye, who was elected in March.
This is the first time he has set a date for the closure of foreign military bases.
“All of Senegal’s friends will be treated like strategic partners, within the framework of open, diversified and uninhibited cooperation,” said Faye.
on Tuesday Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara said that French forces would withdraw from the West African nation, continuing the former colonial power’s military exit from the region.
Speaking in an end-of-year address to the nation, Ouattara said Ivorians should be proud of the modernised state of their own armed forces.
“In this context, we have decided on the coordinated and organised withdrawal of French forces,” he said.
France, whose colonial rule in West Africa ended in the 1960s, has already pulled its soldiers out of Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, following military coups in those countries and spreading anti-French sentiment.
