DAKAR, Senegal — Senegal's prime minister said on Friday that the government is closing ''all foreign military bases,'' an announcement essentially aimed at France, the West African nation's former colonial power.
Although Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko did not specifically name French troops, no other foreign forces have military bases in Senegal.
France has suffered similar setbacks in several West African countries in recent years, including Chad, Niger and Burkina Faso, where French troops that have been on the ground for many years have been kicked out.
Sonko made the announcement during a general policy statement to the National Assembly, without providing a timeline for the exit of the French troops. It comes a month after Senegalese President Bassirou Diomaye Faye said there would soon be no more French soldiers on Senegalese soil.
''The President of the Republic has decided to close all foreign military bases in the very near future,'' Sonko said.
France's military and Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to the announcement.
A former colonial power in much of Africa, France has faced opposition from some African leaders over what they described as a demeaning and heavy-handed approach to the continent.
France, which has already left coup-hit countries of Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, on Thursday confirmed it has handed over the first of several bases to Chad.