President Emmanuel Macron insisted on the importance of France’s military presence in Djibouti for the development of its strategy in the Indo-Pacific region, Saturday during a meeting with his Djibouti counterpart Ismaïl Omar Guelleh.
“This presence in Djibouti, of course, is also oriented towards the Indian Ocean and the Indo-Pacific, and our reaffirmed Indo-Pacific strategy, consolidated since spring 2018, could not be done without the French forces in Djibouti”declared Emmanuel Macron during this visit during which he also visited French troops for the end of year celebrations.
At a time when France was forced to withdraw its troops from several African countries, particularly in the Sahel, the French president highlighted the uniqueness of Djibouti.
“We wanted to evolve our model where, in many countries, we had historical foundations laid. We wanted to rethink it”he declared.
“Djibouti is not participating in this overall maneuver because, for decades, the very nature of our base here, of our operations, has been profoundly different”he added, emphasizing “the need for security” of Djibouti as much as on France’s ambitions in the Indo-Pacific.
This region covers a vast area of Asia and Oceania including major emerging powers such as India and China. It concentrates around 60% of the world’s GDP and France is present there thanks to its overseas departments or territories, such as New Caledonia, French Polynesia, Mayotte and Reunion Island.
In front of the French troops, with whom he shared a Christmas dinner on Friday, Emmanuel Macron affirmed that the French base in Djibouti was going to “reinvent” as “projection point” for « missions » in Africa.
France has already been forced to evacuate its troops from Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger between 2022 and 2023 after military juntas came to power. A first contingent of 120 French soldiers also left Chad on Friday, which made a similar request on November 29, as did Senegal.
Ismaïl Omar Guelleh, for his part, recalled “the privileged relationship” with France, characterized by the renewal last July of the defense partnership. He also welcomed the signing on Saturday of two agreements relating to the construction of a new airport in Djibouti and the development of a space agency.
The two presidents discussed several regional issues, Emmanuel Macron emphasizing “the importance of implementing a dialogue process to end the terrible conflict in Sudan”ravaged by a war pitting the army against paramilitaries.