Sarkozy: close base in Ivory Coast and deploy elsewhere…

(BRUSSELS2) Sarkozy confirmed it during the final press conference of the European summit in Brussels on December 12: the closure of the French base in Côte d'Ivoire is coming soon. "You want me to go to the end of my thought, one day we will have to discuss the presence of the French armies, for example in Côte d'Ivoire, where I await the elections with great impatience."

And to add: it is necessary "that we are redeploying to soldiers in the service of peace in other regions of Africa where, moreover, we know our responsibilities."  No need to wonder too long about "Or elsewhere". As any specialist will have guessed, this particularly targets Afghanistan. Where the Americans and the British cry misery, and ask (especially the English), a "sharing of the burden".

The British advance on European defense could thus be conditional on a French counterpart, an even greater commitment in certain Afghan regions.