Abidjan has given its approval for the installation of a US military base near the town of Odienné, in the northwest of Côte d’Ivoire, indicated to World several sources close to the case, Monday July 8. Contacted, the spokesperson for the Ivorian government did not wish to make the information official.
The outlines of this future base, its personnel and the date of its commissioning are not yet known, but this site should constitute a new outpost of the American army in West Africa, where the expansion of Sahelian jihadist groups threatens the countries of the Gulf of Guinea.
The US Africa Command (AFRICOM) has been forced to review its posture and reposition its troops in the region since the junta in power in Niger demanded, in March, the departure of its troops from the country. A decision taken in the name of the “national sovereignty and the interests and aspirations of the people”according to the Niger transitional authorities led by General Abdourahamane Tiani, who had already put forward the same arguments to demand that French troops leave the country, as soon as they come to power, after the coup d’état of July 26, 2023 against former President Mohamed Bazoum. An agreement for a staggered departure of the thousand or so American soldiers was reached in May between Washington and Niamey. At the same time, the Niger authorities formed an alliance with Moscow and welcomed on their soil men from the Africa Corps, the new Russian force in Africa.
“The best option”
On Sunday, the last American soldiers left the Niamey base. Their brothers in arms from the 201 air base in Agadez, where aerial surveillance equipment and MQ-9 Reaper combat drones are installed, will follow in their footsteps by the 15th September. In recent years, Niger has been a stronghold of the United States in Africa and occupied a strategic place in its fight against Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group in the Sahel and the Sahara.
“We had to decide quickly, details a source close to the Ivorian intelligence services. Since the arrival of the juntas in power in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, the Sahel is no longer an option for Westerners and it could not be Senegal either because of the sovereignist posture of the new authorities. Benin and Togo were also considered, but the best option was Ivory Coast.
Abidjan has indeed established close military cooperation with Washington. The two armies regularly conduct joint training against terrorism and Africom organizes the “Flintlock” exercise every year in Côte d’Ivoire, a vast training exercise for special forces from different African countries. Ties were further strengthened in January, after a visit by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to Abidjan, during which he was received by Ivorian President Alassane Ouattara.
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