[R-G] France Opens First Military Bases in the Gulf

[Anthony Fenton]

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/27/world/europe/27france.html?_r=2

May 27, 2009
France Opens First Military Bases in the Gulf
By MATTHEW SALTMARSH

PARIS — President Nicolas Sarkozy opened France’s first military  
facilities in the Gulf on Tuesday, deepening the government’s alliance  
with the United Arab Emirates and highlighting its shifting foreign  
policy priorities.

Mr. Sarkozy attended a ceremony to open French naval, air and army  
facilities in Abu Dhabi. The bases are the first permanent French  
military installations to be built outside of French territory since  
the process of decolonization began more than half a century ago.

The Gulf is of geopolitical importance both because of its gas and oil  
resources and because of its proximity to Iran. Abu Dhabi sits just  
225 kilometers, or 140 miles, directly across the Gulf from Iran.

“The permanent French military installation in Abu Dhabi shows the  
responsibility that France, as a global power, agrees to assume with  
its closest partners, in a region that is a fault line for the whole  
world,” Mr. Sarkozy said in the text of a speech delivered in the  
Emirate.

The new military presence comprises a French facility at the Emirate’s  
Al Dhafra air base, which can accommodate Mirage and Rafale jets; a  
naval base of eight hectares, or about 20 acres, at the port of Mina  
Zayed, which can handle any French naval vessels except aircraft  
carriers, though these can berth in a nearby port; and an army camp at  
Zayed, specializing in urban combat training. There are also  
intelligence-gathering facilities.

Eventually, about 500 French military personnel will be permanently  
stationed at the sites.

France’s main military base serving the Gulf region is in Djibouti, a  
former colony on the mouth of the Red Sea, which serves as a hub for  
its operations against pirates. Mr. Sarkozy said the new facilities  
would not affect the French presence in Djibouti.

France signaled a strategic policy shift last summer with a government  
“White Paper,” which sought to better prepare the country for a world  
in which conventional military threats are being replaced by a  
multitude of complex, global risks. The paper also identified a  
strategic geographical axis of priorities from the Atlantic to the  
Indian Ocean.

This was a rejection of the policies set under former President  
Charles de Gaulle, which stressed the independence of French foreign  
policy.

Under Mr. Sarkozy, France has rejoined the military command of NATO,  
has sent troops to Afghanistan and has joined the international effort  
at protecting vital shipping lanes in the Gulf.

“This initiative continues a longstanding cooperation between France  
and the Emirate, while also allowing France to extend its reach in a  
very strategic region,” said Denis Bauchard, a senior fellow at the  
French Institute of International Relations in Paris.

The former presidents François Mitterrand and Jacques Chirac deepened  
cooperation with Abu Dhabi through arms sales. Paris and Abu Dhabi  
also signed bilateral defense accords in 1991 and 1995, which were  
updated Tuesday.

Mr. Sarkozy also hopes that his trip will help secure the sale of  
Dassault Rafale jet fighters to replace Mirage 2000s in the Emirates  
Air Force, as well as satellite equipment and a civilian nuclear  
contract. France has been unable to sell the Rafale abroad, due in  
part to fierce international competition, especially from Lockheed  
Martin’s F-16 Falcon.

The new French facilities were originally agreed upon in mid-2007  
after an approach by the Emirate. The project has been managed by the  
Élysée Palace. Abu Dhabi, the wealthiest and most influential of the  
Emirates, paid for the installations.

The United States remains the major foreign military presence in the  
Gulf with strategic air bases, logistics operations and the  
headquarters of the 5th Fleet in Bahrain.

The agreement with France represents an insurance policy while the  
United States scales back in the region as the conflict in Iraq winds  
down, analysts said.

Last week, Tehran said that it had successfully tested a “Sajil”  
missile, a surface-to-surface weapon with a range of 2,000 kilometers.  
The reported launching followed efforts by the Obama administration to  
seek a new relationship with Tehran to forestall a nuclear program  
that Western countries allege is designed to build a nuclear bomb.

Separately, Mr. Sarkozy also used the two-day trip to press for talks  
between oil producers and consumers to find “a satisfactory level” for  
crude to avoid the “erratic movements” of prices seen last year. Such  
talks could cover stocks, transport, technology, the organization of  
markets and speculation.

Mr. Sarkozy said he planned to propose a mechanism at a summit of the  
Group of 8 leaders in Italy in July.

“Why don’t we agree, producer countries and consumers, on general  
price guidelines to give to the market, I would say even a price range  
which would guarantee investments over the long term but which would  
not overwhelm consumer economies,” he said during the speech.

His trip also included a visit to the future site of a branch of the  
Louvre Museum in the Emirate.