A key French military base in Africa will be closed, the French defense minister has announced.
Alain Richard told a news conference Thursday that the closure of the base in Bouar, in northwestern Central African Republic, was due to cuts in defense spending."For budgetary and professional reasaons, the French government has decided to reduce its garrisons in Africa and notably to close the Bouar military base," Richard was quoted as saying.
Richard said some 1,400 soldiers were being withdrawn from the base, about 240 miles west of the capital, Bangui. The troops are being transferred to the capital and will eventually be withdrawn from the country, he said.
Opposition leaders say the troop withdrawal from the Central African Republic is proof that France is turning a cold shoulder to the country's president, Ange-Felix Patasse.
Since May 1996, mutinous soldiers have staged three major rebellions against Patasse, whose election in 1993 ended more than a decade of army rule. French troops joined with government soldiers in each rebellion to help protect the presidency.
French officials announced last week that Paris was re-evaluating its commitments in Africa.
Over the next five years, Paris is expected to cut its forces on the continent from 8,000 to 5,000.
Until the 1960s, France controlled about one-third of the African continent, and its military presence is still a pillar of its international status. But financing large numbers of troops is expensive, and Premier Lionel Jospin's new Socialist-led government has decided to streamline defense operations on the continent.
Richard and Cooperation Minister Charles Josselin are touring Africa this week to review France's Africa policy. They also visited Gabon and Chad.
France has been forced to deal with a more active U.S. policy in Africa, its support for dictators - such as the recently toppled Zairian President Mobutu Sese Seko - and the desire of its former colonies to integrate into the world economy.
France can't afford anymore to maintain large military bases in Africa, and with the introduction of an all-volunteer army, it won't have the personnel to do it.
France plans to help set up military academies and train peacekeeping forces and national police forces to offset the departure of its troops.