The President of the Ivory Coast, Alassane Ouattara, announced recently that French forces will withdraw from the West African country, following the withdrawal of the former colonial power’s military forces from the region.

In his year-end address to the nation, Ouattara said that Ivorians should be proud of the modernised state as well as their own armed forces.

France has been considering reducing its military presence due to shifting regional alliances and increasing anti-French sentiment in West and Central African countries, including Ivory Coast, to 600 troops from approximately 2,200 currently stationed there, sources told Reuters in November.

France, whose colonial rule in West Africa ended in the 1960s, has already withdrawn French troops from Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger after military coups in those countries and the spread of anti-French sentiment among the peoples of these countries.

Chad’s government—a key Western ally in the battle against Islamist militants in the region—abruptly ended a defence cooperation pact with France in November.

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