Macron says French bases in Africa to be co-run with host nations

Paris, The Gulf Observer: President Emmanuel Macron said on Monday that French military bases in Africa will gradually be co-run with their host nations, after Paris suffered a series of setbacks in its former sphere of influence.

In a speech ahead of a trip to four African countries this week, Macron said France’s military will become less visible and the number of soldiers reduced, in an effort to defuse tensions in West Africa, where anti-French sentiment is on the rise, Reuters reported.

“The bases as they exist now are a heritage from the past,” he told reporters at the Elysee palace in Paris two days before flying to Gabon, the first country of a tour that will also take him to nations that were not former French colonies, including Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

“These bases will not be closed but re-organised,” he said, adding that the new bases or “academies” will start to gradually be “africanised” and ran in conjunction with African and European partners.