Ivory Coast, France to Keep Some Military Ties Amid Troop Exit
France's Minister of Armed Forces Sebastien Lecornu and Defence Minister of Ivory Coast Tene Birahima Ouattara during a ceremony at the 43rd Marine Infantry Battalion in Port-Bouet in Abidjan on February 20.
Photographer: Issouf Sanogo/AFP/Getty ImagesThis article is for subscribers only.
Ivory Coast and France plan to maintain some security cooperation even as French soldiers stationed in the West African country start withdrawing.
The two countries will continue to engage on training and equipment, France’s Defence Minister Sebastien Lecornu said on Thursday. France currently has about 400 troops in Ivory Coast at an army base it has run for decades, more recently largely dedicated to fighting Islamist extremism groups in the Sahel region. The force will be reduced to less than one hundred troops in the coming months.