Once the gatekeeper of West and Central Africa, France's influence over its former colonial domain has faced repeated setbacks in the last several years. These first began in the Sahel, where a string of military coups between 2020 and 2023 saw Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso pivot toward Russia and effectively force French troops out of the region, to which they were initially deployed in 2013 to halt the advance of jihadist groups. Following suit, Chad, Senegal and Cote d'Ivoire all announced in late 2024 the end of France's basing rights in their respective countries. Together with France's military base in Gabon morphing into a joint military training center, this effectively signaled the imminent end of France's forward military deployments to West and Central Africa. A flurry of headlines has since forecast the impending collapse of France's influence in Africa. While the reality is likely to be more nuanced, the...
