France starts 2025 with fresh controversy, questions over Africa

FILE - Senegalese President Bassirou Diomaye Faye and French President Emmanuel Macron leave the Elysee Palace after a lunch in Paris on June 20, 2024. Senegal is one of several African nations that have asked France to withdraw its troops from their territory.

France starts 2025 with a further drawdown of its military presence in its former African colonies, and fresh tensions ignited this week with controversial remarks by French President Emmanuel Macron.