Senegalese President: Instructions have been issued to end foreign military presence in 2025
Senegalese President Bassiro Dioumaye Afai said he has instructed his defense minister to propose a new approach to cooperation in the field of defense and security that will lead, among other outcomes, to the end of the military presence of foreign countries in Senegal, as of 2025.
“All Senegal’s friends will be treated as strategic partners, within the framework of an open, diverse and complex-free cooperation,” Dioumaye Afai added in a New Year’s speech.
On November 28, Afai, who has been president since April 2024, announced that France would be forced to close its military bases in Senegal.
In an interview with Agence France-Presse, Afai stressed that Senegal is an independent, sovereign state, and sovereignty is incompatible with the presence of foreign military bases.
He stressed that rejecting a French military presence in his country doesn’t mean a break between the two countries.
