Nicolas Sarkozy’s former Minister of Cooperation in 2007, Jean-Marie Bockel, is making his first African tour. Appointed on February 6 by the Élysée as “personal envoy” of Emmanuel Macron, Jean-Marie Bockel has been in Abidjan since Monday. There are two days left. On the menu: meetings with officials, but also discussion around the reduction of personnel within the French military base.
1 min
With our correspondent in Abidjan, Bineta Diagne
It’s a fast-paced program: exchange with political figures, discussion with civil society, visit to the French military base and interview with the Ivorian president on Wednesday. Appointed on February 6, the former Secretary of State for Defense and Veterans Affairs has the mission of “ change the status, format and mission of French bases in Africa “.
In Ivory Coast, the Port-Bouet military base has nearly a thousand soldiers. This number should be reduced to nearly 300. It remains to define the practical modalities and especially the mission of these soldiers: will they be present permanently? Or will it be short rotations?
During a visit to Abidjan last year, the French Minister of the Armed Forces, Sébastien Lecornu, indicated that Paris would now focus on arms sales, the fight against cybercrime and training.
In a context marked by instability in the Sahel, “ it is important to help our national armed forces build up to be on the front line”adds an expert on security issues.