French military troops who have been in Ivory Coast for decades will soon be leaving, Ivorian officials have said, signalling more diplomatic setbacks for France amid local resentment that has caused one-time allies in West and Central Africa to sever ties with Paris.

President Alassane Ouattara’s announcement on Tuesday puts Ivory Coast on a growing list of African countries cutting military ties with the once greatly influential former colonial power, as some former French allies also turn to Russian mercenaries for help fighting a swarm of armed groups in the region.

Within days of each other in November, Chad and Senegal expelled French troops, joining several Sahel countries that had earlier done the same, starting in 2021.

The wave of pushback has forced France to devise a new military strategy for the continent that officials say will be in line with the “needs” of partner countries. Temporary deployments, rather than permanent military presence, and more focus on training local forces, are some features of the new policy.

Here’s what to know about why Ivory Coast has joined the list and how France’s influence in the region is waning:

Why is Ivory Coast expelling French troops?

In his 2024 end-of-year address to the country on December 31, President Ouattara said the Ivorian government had decided to expel French troops because the Ivorian army is “now effective”. The president did not give any other reasons.

“We can be proud of our army, whose modernisation is now effective. It is within this context that we have decided on the concerted and organised withdrawal of French forces,” Ouattara said.

The 43rd Marine Infantry Battalion (BIMA), a French army base located in Port-Bouet in the economic capital, Abidjan, will be “handed over” to the Ivorian military starting from January 2025, he added. French soldiers have been helping the Ivorian army in the fight against armed groups operating in the Sahel and expanding into countries along the Gulf of Guinea, including Ivory Coast and Ghana. France also operated as part of a United Nations peacekeeping mission during the country’s long civil war from 2002 to 2011.

Ouattara’s announcement on Tuesday was unexpected. The president is seen by many as one of the African leaders most close to France. In a country in which anger against France is growing, that perception has bred deep resentment of the government. In August, French President Emmanuel Macron feted Ouattara in a private dinner at the Elysee.

Analysts say Ouattara’s decision to cut military ties could also be political, as Ivorians gear up for general elections slated for October. Ouattara, who has been in power since 2010, has not yet said whether he will seek a fourth term in the polls. His decision to run for president in 2020 following the sudden death of his successor and prime minister, Amadou Gon Coulibaly, provoked widespread outrage in opposition camps.

Why is France facing general pushback in Francophone Africa?

France has faced unprecedented, bitter criticism from citizens in its former colonies in West and Central Africa in recent years. From Mali to Ivory Coast, thousands of people have taken to the streets in mass protests, demanding that their governments cut ties with Paris for good.

Some of the resentment dates back to historical controversies linked to colonialism. The French direct rule during colonisation was perceived to have weakened traditional institutions, culture, and leadership while forcing European officials and customs on locals. French officials ruling the colonies were perceived as particularly harsh, both in their administration and attempts to increase France’s economic footholds.

After countries won their independence in the 1960s, Paris built a strong web of connections with African leaders and elites, termed “Francafrique” to protect France’s vast economic interests and to keep French troops on the ground. More than 200 French companies operate on the continent, including oil and gas giant Total, and Orano, which mines uranium to power France’s nuclear power plants. French troops too have operated across the region, providing training and assisting local militaries.

However, in the last five years, military-led governments in the Sahel region have pushed back at the perceived weakness of the French army. Despite the presence of thousands of French soldiers, armed group activity continued to turn the area into a hotspot of violence as groups like Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) wage war on security forces and officials across Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger. Increasingly, armed groups have made incursions into the coastal Ivory Coast, Ghana, and Benin.

Which countries have expelled French troops and why?

By January 2025, six African countries – Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Chad, Senegal, and Ivory Coast – had cut military ties with France.

Mali: In August 2020, a group of soldiers from the Malian Armed Forces mutinied and seized power from the civilian government in Bamako, citing its inability to stop increasing levels of violence. After France denounced the coup, the military government played up populist narratives and blamed France for interfering in the country’s decision-making. Hundreds took to the streets, praising the military and calling for France to leave. The coup kicked off a series of takeovers in Burkina Faso, Niger, Guinea and Gabon.

In June 2021, Macron announced French forces would leave the Sahel in a phased-out manner. By December 2023, the exit was complete. Mali has since strengthened ties with Russia, and Russian mercenaries are currently operating in the region. Conflict has continued – more than 5,000 people died across the Sahel in the first half of 2024, and millions remain displaced, according to conflict tracker, ACLED.

Burkina Faso: The current military government seized power in January 2022 on the back of resentment against a civilian government seen as powerless against armed groups, and the French government believed to be backing it. In February 2023, the military government ordered French troops to leave Burkinabe soil within a month. Some 300 Russian troops were thought to have arrived in the country in January 2024.

Niger: As civilian governments fell in neighbouring countries, the military there too staged a coup in July 2023, overthrowing and detaining President Mohamed Bazoum. Many Nigeriens marched in favour of the military and called for French troops stationed in Niamey to leave. In December 2023, the military government expelled French soldiers.

Senegal: In November 2024, President Bassirou Diomaye Faye said that France “should” shut down its military bases from 2025 because French military presence was not in line with Senegal’s sovereignty. The declaration came as Senegal marked 80 years after a colonial-era massacre that saw French troops kill tens of West African soldiers angry at their treatment after fighting for Paris in World War II. There are 350 French troops stationed in the country.

Chad: Officials, also in November, announced that Chad was ending a military pact with France in place since the 1960s. The country was a key link in France’s military presence in Africa and its last foothold in the wider Sahel region. Foreign Minister Abderaman Koulamallah called France “an essential partner” but said it “must now also consider that Chad has grown up, matured and is a sovereign state that is very jealous of its sovereignty”. There are 1,000 French troops stationed in the country.

Does France still have any military presence in Africa?

Yes, France maintains a large military base in Djibouti, eastern Africa. The country, also a former colony of France, hosts close to 1,500 French troops and is one of France’s largest overseas military contingents.

In West and Central Africa, France continues to retain a small presence in Gabon where it has about 300 troops. Gabon’s army seized power in a coup in August 2023, ending five years of the Bongo family’s rule.

However, unlike other military-led countries in the region, Paris has maintained ties with Gabon’s military government, likely because of the resentment the ruling family drew, some analysts say.

Outgoing President Joe Biden has awarded the Presidential Citizens Medal, the second-highest civilian honour in the United States, to members of a congressional committee that investigated the attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021.

A total of 20 honourees were recognised in a ceremony at the White House on Thursday.

Among them were an activist who campaigned to legalise same-sex marriage in the US, a military doctor who improved battlefield trauma care, and a civil rights leader who laid the groundwork for desegregation.

“ The most important title in America is not president but citizen. It is ‘We the people,’” Biden said, quoting the preamble to the US Constitution. “ These are the words of the rock upon which this entire nation has been built.”

But a couple of the former legislators honoured were explicitly praised for their work on a committee in the House of Representatives charged with probing the January 6 attack.

One recipient was the committee chair, Democrat Bennie Thompson of Louisiana. The second was his vice chair, former Republican Representative Liz Cheney of Wyoming.

Extended applause welcomed Cheney to the stage at the White House on Thursday, as an announcer praised her “for putting the American people over party”. Thompson, meanwhile, was hailed for his “lifelong dedication to safeguarding our Constitution”.

What is January 6?

Cheney has become a political lightning rod since her years on the committee. She is a popular target of criticism for President-elect Donald Trump, the de facto leader of the Republican Party.

The January 6 attack was spurred by Trump’s false claims that he had won the 2020 presidential election.

On that day, Trump held a “Stop the Steal” rally outside of the White House, repeating unsubstantiated allegations of voter fraud.

Thousands of his supporters then travelled several blocks west to the US Capitol, where they attacked law enforcement and broke into the building while Congress was certifying the election results.

Lawmakers were evacuated, and rioters were heard to chant threats like, “Hang Mike Pence,” a reference to the vice president who was overseeing the vote certification.

As of November 2024, the US Justice Department reported that 1,561 people have been charged with federal crimes stemming from the riot. A total of 645 were sentenced to incarceration.

The agency noted that firearms, tasers, knives, axes and pepper spray were among the weapons the rioters brought into the Capitol during the January 6 attack.

Biden has previously awarded the Presidential Citizens Medal to Capitol police officers and election workers who received threats in the wake of the 2020 vote, including Ruby Freeman and her daughter Shaye Moss.

“ I’ve been honoured to present law enforcement officers who defended our Capitol on January 6th and the state and local election officials, elected leaders, who defended the free and fair election of 2020,” Biden said at Thursday’s ceremony.

“Today, we celebrate a new group of Americans who dedicated their careers to serving our democracy in other essential ways.”

Cheney versus Trump

Thursday’s medal ceremony took place just days before the riot’s fourth anniversary — and less than three weeks before Trump himself is set to take office for a second term. He will be sworn in on January 20.

Trump previously served from 2017 to 2021, at which time Biden, the winner of the 2020 race, succeeded him.

In the months after the January 6 riot, the House of Representatives voted to assemble an independent investigative committee to look into the circumstances surrounding the attack.

The commission was ultimately dissolved in 2023 when the House switched from Democratic to Republican leadership. But in its final weeks, the commission released a damning, 850-page report recommending criminal charges against Trump.

It accused him of a “multi-part conspiracy” to overturn the 2020 election results.

“The central cause of January 6th was one man, former President Donald Trump, whom many others followed,” the report said. “None of the events of January 6 would have happened without him.”

Cheney was one of only two Republicans on the committee. Both have since left office. Cheney lost her party primary while her Republican colleague Adam Kinzinger did not seek re-election at all.

She and her father, former Vice President Dick Cheney, have since become visible critics of Trump, even supporting his Democratic rival, Vice President Kamala Harris, in the 2024 presidential race.

In an interview with NPR in December 2023, Cheney accused Trump of transforming the Republican Party into a “cult of personality” and called him a threat to US democracy.

“He talks about weaponising the levers of our government against his political opponents,” Cheney told the NPR programme, Fresh Air. “I don’t view that so much through the lens of what it would mean for me personally. But I think that what it would mean for the republic is that we won’t be a republic any more.”

Meanwhile, Trump has suggested the members of the January 6 committee should be arrested, spurring fears of political retribution.

“Honestly, they should go to jail,” he told the NBC programme Meet the Press in December.

He repeatedly accused the committee, without proof, of deleting or suppressing evidence. “Cheney did something that’s inexcusable, along with Thompson and the people on the un-select committee of political thugs and, you know, creeps.”

A killer whale, which captured the world’s attention in 2018 when it was spotted pushing the dead body of its newborn calf for 17 days, appears to be grieving again.

The whale, known as Tahlequah, has lost another calf and is again pushing the body, according to the Center for Whale Research.

Tahlequah has this time been spotted off the coast of the US state of Seattle.

Killer whales have been known to carry dead calves for a week but scientists in 2018 said Tahlequah had set a “record”.

The Center for Whale Research said the death of any calf was a “tremendous loss” but added that the death of Tahlequah’s newborn was “particularly devastating” given its history.

The centre, which studies the Southern Resident killer whale and works on its conservation, said Tahlequah had now lost two out of four documented calves – both of which were female.

Both Canada and the US list Southern Resident killer whales as endangered.

The whales depend on Chinook salmon – which have been in dramatic decline in recent years – for food.

Failures to reproduce are linked to nutrition and access to these salmon, according to research from the University of Washington.

Whales can travel an average of 120km (75 miles) a day.

The 2018 sighting of Tahlequah pushing a dead calf happened when it was off the shores of Victoria, British Columbia.

DEVELOPING STORYDEVELOPING STORY,

Yoon faces becoming the first sitting president to be detained in country’s history.

South Korean authorities have arrived at the residence of President Yoon Suk-yeol to arrest the impeached leader over his short-lived declaration of martial law.

Dozens of police and anticorruption investigators entered the gate of Yoon’s compound in Seoul early on Friday morning to execute a warrant for his arrest over his brief imposition of martial law on December 3, which plunged the East Asian nation into its deepest political crisis in decades.

“The execution of the arrest warrant for President Yoon Suk Yeol has begun,” the Corruption Investigation Office for High-Ranking Officials said in a statement.

It is unclear if Yoon, who is being investigated on suspicion of insurrection and abuse of power, will cooperate with authorities seeking to detain him.

If arrested, the conservative leader would be the first sitting president to be detained in South Korean history.

If found guilty of insurrection, he faces severe penalties, including life imprisonment and the death penalty.

Speculation about when and how authorities would take Yoon into custody has swirled since a Seoul court earlier this week granted prosecutors’ request for an arrest warrant.

Yoon Kap-keun, a lawyer for Yoon, on Friday reiterated earlier comments that the warrant was illegal and invalid, adding that “legal actions” would be taken in response to its execution.

Yoon’s legal team on Thursday sought an injunction to block the warrant at the country’s Constitutional Court, which is also currently deliberating whether to uphold Yoon’s impeachment or restore his presidential authority.

Yoon’s security detail has previously blocked investigators from executing several search warrants directed at the president.

In a defiant New Year’s message to supporters who have gathered outside his residence, Yoon pledged to “fight until the end to protect this country together with you”.

Braving freezing temperatures, thousands of Yoon’s supporters have rallied outside his compound in recent days to demand an end to the investigation and the reversal of his impeachment.

“President Yoon Suk-yeol will be protected by the people” and “Illegal warrant is invalid”, protesters chanted on Thursday.

Authorities have deployed about 2,700 police and 135 police buses in the area to prevent violence between pro- and anti-Yoon protesters, state-funded Yonhap News Agency reported.

Yoon, who served as the nation’s top prosecutor before entering politics, has been suspended from his duties since December 14, when the National Assembly voted 204-85 for his impeachment.

Finance Minister Choi Sang-mok has served as acting president since December 27, when the legislature voted to impeach Yoon’s initial successor, Han Duck-soo, over his refusal to immediately fill three vacancies on the Constitutional Court.

The court has up to six months to make its ruling, with at least six justices on the nine-member bench needed to uphold Yoon’s impeachment and remove him from office.