The last French troops deployed in the Central African Republic left on Thursday following troubled relations due to closer ties between Bangui and Moscow.
A total of 47 troops from a logistical support unit left Bangui airport aboard a C-130 transporter aircraft, marking the last of a 130-person French contingent to leave the country.
France, the former colonial power, deployed 1,600 troops to help stabilize the troubled nation after a coup in 2013 unleashed a civil war along sectarian lines.
In 2021, Paris decided to suspend military cooperation with Bangui, deeming it complicit in an anti-French campaign allegedly steered by Russia.
"France decided that the conditions were no longer appropriate for us to continue working for the benefit of the Central African armed forces," General Francois-Xavier Mabin, commander of French forces in Gabon, told AFP.
Earlier this year, France withdrew the last of its troops from the former colony Mali, after the relations between the two parties plummeted after the military seized power in Bamako in August 2020 and eventually brought in Russian paramilitaries.
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