The French president's personal envoy for Africa, Jean-Marie Bockel, spoke this Wednesday of the "reshaping" of the French military presence in Côte d'Ivoire, during a visit to Abidjan, his first on the continent since taking office at the beginning of the month.
“The term remodel seems to me to be the right term.
The spirit is to come with proposals, listening and then a dialogue which results in a winning agreement for both parties,” declared the former Secretary of State for Defense and Veterans Affairs at the resulting from a “rich exchange” of one hour with Ivorian President Alassane Ouattara.
Mr. Bockel, who was a socialist before becoming a centrist, had to leave his State Secretariat for Cooperation under President Nicolas Sarkozy (2007-2008), after having denounced the weight of "Françafrique", this system of co-optation and of postcolonial corruption.
In November 2019, he lost one of his sons, Pierre-Emmanuel, engaged in Operation Barkhane, in a helicopter accident in Mali.
Africa now a minefield for France
He was tasked on February 6 by Emmanuel Macron with discussing with African partners new forms of French military presence on their soil, in Senegal - where there is a political crisis -, Ivory Coast, Gabon and Chad.
And it is in Côte d'Ivoire, one of France's strongest allies in West Africa, which is home to some 900 French soldiers within the 43rd Marine Infantry Battalion (43rd BIMa), that he chose to make his first visit.
“We don't want to reduce our efforts but it's a global thing: there will be developments, the footprint will be less on certain aspects and stronger on others,” he said, without giving details.
“The prospects of our partnership in terms of security are prospects of supporting the strengthening of the sovereign military force of Côte d'Ivoire, its quantitative and qualitative rise in power,” he added, referring to “a process which has already begun.
Jean-Marie Bockel must submit his recommendations to the Élysée in July.
The French soldiers were in turn expelled from Mali, Burkina and then Niger, three West African countries governed by military regimes that came to power through coups and are now openly hostile to France.