Read Time: 3 minutes

The new military coordination body, which is modelled on the United States Africa Command, is working to reorganise France’s presence on the continent. In addition to preserving military outposts in West and Central Africa, the project entails closer cooperation with a handful of other African states, some of which are English-speaking.
As the Élysée Palace finalises decisions about the future of its military presence on the continent, the Commandement pour l’Afrique (CPA) is seeking to push forward its roadmap. Set up in August under General Pascal Ianni, the CPA advocates building deep security partnerships beyond France’s traditional spheres of influence, according to an internal memo dated 11 September, which Africa Intelligence has been able to consult.
While the CPA intends to maintain troops – albeit in significantly reduced numbers (AI, 18/06/24) – in states that host permanent French military bases (namely Senegal, Ivory Coast, Gabon, and Chad), it is also focusing on synergies with other countries. Among its targets are two Anglophone states: Ghana and Nigeria. While France already has defence missions in Accra and Abuja, the CPA plans to deploy joint inter-armed liaison detachments there, made up of several dozen soldiers.
Deployed temporarily to limit their visibility, these units are intended to strengthen security relations between Paris and these countries’ authorities through training and joint exercises with national armies. Like other pre-positioned French forces in Francophone Africa, they could also be mobilised in support of a larger French contingent in the event of a major crisis on the continent.
Naming of defence attachés
The CPA has also started working on plans to send similar detachments to Guinea, Mauritania, Benin, Cameroon, Congo, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Until now, training has been provided in West Africa by the Éléments Français au Sénégal (EFS) and in Central Africa by the Éléments Français au Gabon, two entities that are set to disappear in their current forms. Guinea and Benin are already temporarily hosting French special forces. The CPA is also considering potential cooperation with Tanzania, Namibia, and Botswana.
This strategy has been devised with the support of two senior officers, Colonel David Pawlowski and Lieutenant Colonel Paul Menon-Bertheux. The former, who commanded the 68th African Artillery Regiment from 2019 to 2021, has served in Mali. The latter headed the air transport crew training centre after serving as aide-de-camp to Édouard Philippe when he was prime minister. Both officers were assigned to the CPA at its inception.
General Ianni and his team are also lobbying for the CPA to have direct control over French defence attachés posted in Africa, ending the oversight of the defence ministry’s Direction Générale des Relations Internationales et de la Stratégie (DGRIS). This desire is shared by a number of senior French officers who are still reluctant to work with the DGRIS, an organisation that has been run mainly by civilians since its creation in 2015. While the subject is still under discussion between Paris and its African partners, the appointment of defence attachés with the rank of general in certain key countries of the future structure, such as Senegal and Ivory Coast, cannot be ruled out either.
Designing new military architecture
Since its launch, the CPA has worked closely with President Emmanuel Macron’s personal high representative for Africa, former junior aid minister Jean-Marie Bockel, in designing a new military architecture to replace the current setup in Ivory Coast, Gabon, Chad, and Senegal. Bockel sent his initial findings to the president in late October (AI, 02/10/24).
Bockel has visited all the key countries on his beat except Senegal. While the future of the EFS remains uncertain, it could be decided before the end of the year if and when Defence Minister Sébastien Lecornu visits Dakar. In the meantime, Macron has instructed Bockel to brief the European Union and Paris’s key European partners on the French approach. Accordingly, the envoy is soon expected to travel to Rome after being received in Berlin in mid-November.