Senegal marked 50 years of independence Sunday by exerting its sovereignty with an announcement it was taking back French military bases, a symbolic move to be cemented after talks with its former colonial ruler.
Senegalese troops are to be joined however by a French contingent on a march through the capital as part of festivities for its independence celebrations, attended by France's Interior Minister Brice Hortefeux.
The historic step announced by President Abdoulaye Wade in an address to the nation on Saturday night has no marked effect in the short term, but is very symbolic for a country branded by 350 years of French presence.
The first French colony south of the Sahara, Senegal hosts one of three permanent French military bases in Africa with 1,200 men based in Dakar. The other bases are in Libreville and Djibouti.
Wade's announcement followed shortly after the inauguration of a controversial monument to the African Renaissance, vaunted as a symbol of the emergence of a continent with some one billion inhabitants after five centuries of slavery and colonisation.
The 84-year-old said that keeping the military bases in Senegal - one of the rare countries on the continent that has never experienced a coup d'etat - "appeared more and more incongruous and has often been felt by our populations... as an incomplete independence." "I solemnly declare that from 00H00 (GMT) April 4 Senegal will take back all the (military) bases formerly held by France and intends to exert its sovereignty," Wade said in an address to the nation on public television.
However several French sources say there is no question of sovereignty as the land has remained Senegalese and was only put at the disposition of the French.
The announcement has left several questions about what will happen after Wade's announcement. "Discussions are continuing," French defence ministry spokesman Laurent Teisseire told AFP.
In February the two capitals announced their intention to eventually close the bases. Paris said it intended to preserve a "centre of military co-operation with a regional purpose."
Does the announcement mean the departure of French troops? "The president could have announced a date of departure, but he didn't," a French source told AFP.
No withdrawal timeline has been officially communicated, but gradually troops leaving Dakar on normal rotations will not be replaced. How many soldiers will stay in Dakar? President Nicholas Sarkozy, who did not attend the independence celebrations, has indicated that only 300 soldiers will remain, 900 fewer than there are today.
In a letter to Senegal on Friday Sarkozy reiterated that France remained "naturally disposed to continue a policy of military, bilateral and regional co-operation in Senegal, in support of regional stability. Where will the new "regional centre" be? Senegal proposed a site near Thies, 70 kilometres (42 miles) east of Dakar near the new international airport which is under construction. France refused, citing financial costs. France and Senegal have been bound by a defence agreement since 1974. It is the only European country with military bases in Africa.
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