French troops will withdraw from Ivory Coast in January, President Alassane Ouattara said Tuesday in his end of year address to the nation.
"We can be proud of our army, whose modernization is effective. It is in this context that we have decided on the concerted and organized withdrawal of French forces in Cote d'Ivoire," he said, adding the camp of the 43rd Marine Infantry Battalion in Port Bouet will be returned to the country's armed forces.
The 43rd Marine Infantry Battalion is a corps of marine troops stationed in Port-Bouet, southeast of Abidjan.
The move follows similar decisions in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, where governments have pushed back against France's influence, citing sovereignty concerns.
The withdrawals reflect growing anti-French sentiment across parts of West Africa fuelled by demands for greater autonomy and dissatisfaction with France's role in regional security and governance.
