ABU DHABI: France will have a permanent military base in the United Arab Emirates under a deal signed on Tuesday during a visit by President Nicolas Sarkozy to Abu Dhabi, a French presidential source said.
Around 400 to 500 French army, navy and air force personnel will be stationed at the facility in the oil-rich Gulf country, the source said while talking to a French news agency, requesting anonymity.
A local news agency said that an agreement to “boost relations between the two friendly countries through military cooperation” was inked by UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahayan and French Defence Minister Herve Morin, without providing details of the deal.

PARIS—French authorities detained eight men linked to the al-Qaida branch behind a deadly bombing at Algeria’s U.N. offices, a news report said Thursday.
Le Figaro newspaper reported that the men, who are suspected of providing logistical support to al-Qaida in Islamic North Africa, were rounded up for questioning Tuesday in the Paris area and near the Normandy city of Rouen.
At the suspects’ homes, police seized computers and telecommunications equipment that investigators believe was to be sent to the terror group’s hideouts in Algeria.
The Interior Ministry did not immediately respond to a call seeking comment on the report.
Al-Qaida in Islamic North Africa claimed responsibility for Dec. 11 twin truck bombings—of the U.N. offices and an Algerian government building—that killed at least 37 people, including 17 U.N. staff members.
Le Figaro reported there was nothing to suggest the men had any direct involvement in the attack in Algeria.
The suspects, seven Algerians and a French citizen between the ages of 30 and 35, already had police records and had been under surveillance for months, Le Figaro said. The men were being held for questioning at an intelligence headquarters outside Paris, it said.
An August 2003 bombing at U.N. headquarters in Baghdad—for which al-Qaida in Iraq claimed responsibility—killed the organization’s top envoy in Iraq, Sergio Vieira de Mello, and 21 others.