At a ceremony in Djibouti on Monday, France returned part of its naval base infrastructure under the two countries' 2024 defence treaty and signed a financing agreement to modernise Djibouti's armed forces.
Djibouti on Monday 2 November took back 40% of the infrastructure of the naval base on the Héron islet, handed over by France to the Djiboutian Armed Forces (FAD), the state news agency ADI reported. At the same ceremony, the two sides signed a financing agreement for an infrastructure project to strengthen the Djiboutian army's operational capabilities.
Acting Defence Minister Omar Abdi Said received the keys to the facilities from the French ambassador, Jérôme Bresson, at the armed forces' general staff headquarters. The chief of the general staff, Lieutenant General Zakaria Cheick Ibrahim, attended, along with senior Djiboutian officers and officers of the French Forces stationed in Djibouti (FFDj).
Under the 2024 treaty
According to ADI, the handover was carried out under the defence cooperation treaty between the two countries, after a series of technical studies conducted jointly by the FFDj and the Djiboutian army. The treaty was signed on 24 July 2024. ADI said defence relations had strengthened steadily since then: the first strategic dialogue was held on 11 June 2026 and produced a two-year partnership plan for 2026–2028. In his speech, the minister thanked the French side for its commitment and placed the handover within a wider strengthening of military cooperation, ADI reported. The agency did not publish the value of the financing agreement or say which facilities were transferred.
Context
Djibouti hosts France's largest permanent military presence in Africa. France has withdrawn or sharply reduced its forces in several West and Central African countries in recent years, making the Djibouti base more important to its posture. Djibouti also hosts American, Chinese, Japanese and Italian military facilities on the Bab el-Mandeb strait, one of the world's busiest shipping lanes. Its prime minister said last week that Djibouti would "never accept" the strait being confiscated.
The handover comes amid heightened diplomatic activity around Djibouti. China says its Special Representative on African Affairs, Liu Xianfa, will visit Djibouti, Ethiopia and Egypt in early and mid-November. The speaker of Somalia's parliament visited Djibouti in recent days, and the two parliaments signed a cooperation memorandum.
Image: A French service member briefs U.S. Air Force personnel during a visit to the French Forces stationed in Djibouti (FFDj), July 2026. U.S. Army National Guard photo by Spc. Adila Hamdan, via Wikimedia Commons, public domain.