The French Ministry of Defense is set to establish a new advanced Counter-Terrorism Academy in Jacqueville, near Abidjan in Cote d’Ivoire at approximately cost of USD22.4 million.
This development was revealed during a ceremony to mark the official start of construction on October 18 that was attended by the Ivorian Minister of Defense Hamed Bakayoko and French Minister of Foreign Affairs Jean-Yves Le Drian.
The new Counter-Terrorism Academy will be used to train the Ivorian Special Forces in Counter-Terrorism and Counter-Insurgency (CT-COIN) Operations, High-value target kill/capture (HVTK/C), hostage rescue operations among other military operations.
The facility cited to cover an area of 1,171 hectares and will accommodate a command post, several classrooms, accommodation buildings, a tactical training area, a mock-up village for close quarter combat training, and an area for nautical training.
The French Military Force is currently undertaking counter-insurgency operations in the African Sahel region under Operation Barkhane.
