Senegal’s President Bassirou Diomaye Faye said the French troops will not be allowed to stay on in his country in the near future.
This is coming on the heels of Chad cancelling a defence agreement with France, allowing it troops to be stationed in the central African country.
“There will soon be no more French soldiers in Senegal,” Faye told French daily Le Monde, emphasizing the importance of national sovereignty.
The French military has maintained a presence in Senegal since the country’s independence in 1960, primarily for training and regional security operations. There are currently some 350 French soldiers in the country.
Faye, who has been in office since April, said he would on Sunday commemorate the 80th anniversary of the Thiaroye massacre, when hundreds of African riflemen were killed by French forces in 1944 for demanding pay.
The Senegalese president said he had received a letter from his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron acknowledging that the incident “was indeed a massacre.”
Faye had made it clear during an interview with France 24.
“As French people, do you envisage seeing us in your country with tanks or with military vehicles, Senegalese soldiers with Senegalese uniforms? I don’t think so because historically, France enslaved, colonized and stayed,” he said.
“Obviously, I think that when you reverse the roles a little, you will find it very difficult to imagine that another army, China, Russia, Senegal, or any other country, could have a military base in France. Senegal is an independent country, it is a sovereign country, and sovereignty does not accommodate the presence of military bases in a sovereign country.”
Francophone countries Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger had expelled French forces from their territory.
