Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara said in an end-of-year speech that French forces will withdraw from the West African nation in January, making it the latest country to weaken military ties with the former colonial power. Ouattara said late on Tuesday that Ivory Coast could be proud of its army “whose modernisation is now effective.

“It is in this context that we have decided on the concerted and organised withdrawal of French forces” from the country, he announced.

France has been preparing for years what it calls a “reorganisation” of military relations after the forced departure of its troops from Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, where military-led governments hostile to the ex-colonial ruler have seized power in recent years.

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In November, within hours of each other, Senegal and Chad also announced the departure of French soldiers from their soil.