DAKAR, Feb 3 (AFP) - Security guards and reporters trailing French President Jacques Chirac on his first visit to Senegal in a decade fell prey to the army of pickpockets operating in the capital Dakar, members of the press corps told AFP Thursday.

At least two members of the presidential security detail were relieved of personal effects in the crowds that surrounded Chirac as he made his way to his hotel at the heart of Dakar's downtown.

Some journalists said they had been robbed of cameras and mobile phones on the first of Chirac's three-day official visit to the west African state.

Chirac and his Senegalese counterpart Abdoulaye Wade were Thursday in the northern town of Saint Louis.