News Snapshot:
France is to reduce its military presence in Africa and transform its bases into partnerships with African soldiers, Emmanuel Macron has said ahead of a crucial trip to the continent this week. The French president’s comments came as anti-French sentiment runs high in several former colonies in the Sahel, and Paris seeks to counter growing Chinese and Russian influence on the continent. “The [military] bases as they exist now are a heritage from the past,” Macron said. He promised to “Africanise” the bases in the coming months. Some would become “academies” that would be co-run by French and African armies....
