French interventionism in the Sahel: a flawed strategy, imperfect geopolitics

• Authors: Lofti Sour

Title variants

PL

Francuski interwencjonizm w Sahelu: wadliwa strategia, niedoskonała geopolityka

Abstracts

PL

W ciągu ostatnich kilku lat nastąpił zauważalny wzrost zaangażowania wojskowego Francji w Afryce. Pomimo prób ustanowienia bardziej zrównoważonych stosunków postkolonialnych i znacznego ograniczenia swojej stałej obecności wojskowej, Francja w dalszym ciągu jest bardzo poszukiwanym uczestnikiem rozwiązywania problemów bezpieczeństwa w Afryce. Pomimo wielokrotnych zapewnień francuskich decydentów, że ich rola jako „żandarma Afryki” należy już do przeszłości, od początku nowego tysiąclecia wojska francuskie wzięły udział w dziewięciu operacjach wojskowych. Celem artykułu jest analiza francuskiej strategii w regionie Sahelu, ze szczególnym uwzględnieniem operacji Barkhane, w świetle zmieniającej się francuskiej doktryny i praktyki.

EN

Over the past few years, there has been a notable rise in French military involvement in Africa. Despite attempts to establish a more balanced post-colonial relationship and a significant reduction in its permanent military presence, France continues to be a highly sought-after participant in resolving security challenges in Africa. Despite French policymakers' repeated assurances that their role as the "gendarme of Africa" is a thing of the past, French troops have been engaged in nine military operations since the start of the new millennium. This paper aims to analyze French strategy in the Sahel region, with a particular focus on Operation Barkhane, in light of the changing French doctrine and practices.

Keywords

EN

Operation Barkhane; France; Africa; Mali; post-colonialism; Sahel

PL

operacja Barkhane; Francja; Afryka; Mali; postkolonializm; Sahel

• Publisher: Polskie Towarzystwo Geopolityczne
• Journal: Przegląd Geopolityczny
• Year: 2024
• Volume: 48
• Pages: 91-112

Dates

published

2024

Contributors

author

Lofti Sour

• Mustapha Stambouli University of Mascara, Algeria

• https://orcid.org/0000000187839340

References

• Armstrong, H., 2021. Turkey in the Sahel. Retrieved from International Crisis Group: https://www.crisisgroup.org/africa/sahel/turkeysahel
• Bayart, J.-F., 1998. “Bis repetita”: La politique africaine de François Mitterrand. (In:) S. Cohen (Ed.), Mitterrand et la sortie de la guerre froide (p. 275). Presses Universitaires de France, Paris.
• Bernhardsson, A., 2022. Sweden and changing UN operations A qualitative content analysis of the Swedish government's and parliament's approach to MINUSMA. Swedish Defence University, Stockholm.
• Bezat, J.-M., 2010. Areva Et La Bataille Mondiale Pour L'uranium. Retrieved from Le Monde: https://www.lemonde.fr/economie/article/2010/10/07/areva-etla-bataille-mondiale-pour-l-uranium_1421240_3234.html
• Boeke, S., Tisseron, A., 2014. Mali's Long Road Ahead. RUSI Journal, 32-40.
• Burgess, S., 2018. Military Intervention in Africa French and US Approaches Compared. Africa & Francophonie Journal ASPJ, 12.
• Chafer, T., 2002. Franco-African relations: No longer so exceptional? African Affairs, 345-346.
• Chafer, T., 2005. Chirac and 'la Françafrique': No Longer a Family Affair, Modern and Contemporary France, 13(1), 7-23.
• Chafer, T., et al., 2020. France's Interventions in Mali and the Sahel: A Historical Institutionalist Perspectiv, Journal of Strategic Studies, 16.
• Chapleau, P., Marill, J.-M., 2018. Dictionnaire des opérations extérieures de l'armée française: De 1963 à nos jours, Nouveau Monde, Paris.
• Charbonneau, B., 2017. Intervention in Mali: building peace between peacekeeping and counterterrorism, Journal of Contemporary African Studies, 10.
• Cheick, D., 2022. China's Foreign Policy In The Sahel: Challenges And Prospects. Retrieved from: Organisation for Research on China and Asia (ORCA): https://orcasia.org/public/article/208/chinasforeign-policy-in-the-sahel
• Chipman, J., 1989. French power in Africa. Basil Blackwell, Oxford.
• Chivvis, C., 2016. The French war on Al Qa'ida in Africa, Cambridge University Press, New York.
• Daugalies, D.G., 2022. European aphasia in the Sahel: stabilising how? Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung Multinational Development Policy Dialogue, Brussels.
• Delfs, A., 2022. Germany Decides to End Military Mission in Mali by May 2024. Retrieved from Bloomberg: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-11-22/germany-decides-to-end-military-mission-in-mali-by-may2024?leadSource=uverify%20wall#xj4y7vzkg
• DeVore, M.R., 2019. Strategic satisficing: Civil-military relations and French intervention in Africa, European Journal of International Security, 1-27.
• Dutton, Y., 2016. Funding Terrorism: The Problem of Ransom Payments. San Diego Law Review, 344.
• Dworkin, A., 2016. Europe's New Counter-Terror Wars, Policy Brief. European Council on Foreign Relations, Brussels.
• Erforth, B., 2015. Thinking Security: A Reflectivist Approach to France's Security Policy-Making in sub-Saharan Africa. University of Trento: PhD diss.
• Erforth, B., 2020. Contemporary French security policy in Africa, Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.
• Erforth, B., 2020a. Multilateralism as a tool: Exploring French military cooperation in the Sahel, Journal of Strategic Studies, 3.
• Farinelli, D., 2023. France's strategic pivot to Europe and its impact on the international fight against terrorism in the Sahel region, The European Army Interoperability Centre (Finabel), Brussels.
• Francis, D.J., 2013. The regional impact of the armed conflict and French intervention in Mali, The Norwegian Peacebuilding Resource Centre (NOREF), Oslo.
• French Republic, 2013. Livre Blanc: Défense et sécurité nationale. Ministry of Defence, Paris.
• French Republic, 2017. Defence and National Security Strategic Review, DICoD - Bureau des Éditions, Paris.
• Goffi, E., 2017. Opération Barkhane entre victoires tactiques et échec stratégique: Eléments de réflexion sur l'intervention militaire dans la bande sahélo-saharienne. Centre Franco Paix de la Chaire RaoulDandurand, Montreal.
• Gregory, S., 2000. The French Military in Africa: Past and Present, African Affairs, 436.
• Grieger, G., 2019. China's growing role as a security actor in Africa, European Parliament, Strasbourg.
• Griffin, C., 2016. Operation Barkhane and Boko Haram: French Counterterrorism and Military Cooperation in the Sahel, Small Wars & Insurgencies, 907.
• Henke, M.E., 2017. Why did France intervene in Mali in 2013? Examining the role of intervention entrepreneurs, Canadian Foreign Policy Journal, 23(3), 307-327.
• International Crisis Group, 2023. Mali: Avoiding the Trap of Isolation. Retrieved from ICG: https://icg-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/s3fspublic/2023-03/b185-mali-trap-of-isolation.pdf
• Jean-Pierre, C., 2018. Beijing's 'Going Out' Strategy and Belt and Road Initiative in the Sahel: The Case of China's Growing Presence in Niger, Journal of Contemporary China, 1-2.
• Jesse, G., 2019. The French Intervention in the 2012 in Mali, Seattle University Undergraduate Research Journal, 104-105.
• Kitissou, M., 2014. The Economy of Forces: France in the Sahel and the Global Power Play. In: M. Kitissou, P. Ginsberg, The Sahel: Focus of Hope, Focus of Fear (p. 46), Adonis & Abbey Publishers, London.
• Koepf, T., 2014. The 'new' Sahelian terrorist landscape: actors and challenges. In: C. Barrios, T. Koepf, Re-Mapping the Sahel: Transnational Security Challenges and International Responses (p. 13), European Union Institute for Security Studies, Paris.
• Lasserre, I., Oberlé, T., 2013. Notre Guerre Secrète Au Mali: Les Nouvelles Menaces Contre La France. Fayard, Paris.
• Latorre, J.A., 2022. A change in Mali: The French out, Wagner in. Retrieved from Universidad de Navarra: https://www.unav.edu/web/globalaffairs/a-change-in-mali-the-french-out-wagner-in
• Lebovich, A., van Heukelingen, N., 2023. Unravelling Turkish involvement in the Sahel: Geopolitics and local impact, The Netherlands Institute of International Relations CLINGENDAEL, The Hague.
• Marchal, R., 2013. Military (mis)adventures in Mali, African Affairs, 448(112), 486-497.
• Maślanka, Ł., 2020. France and the Russian Presence in Africa, Polish Institute of International Affairs, Warszawa.
• Montanaro, L. 2022. Insecurity in the Sahel: rethinking Europe's response, Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, Bonn.
• Ndiaye, B., Dieye, P., 2022. The Role of Foreign Actors in the Sahel Crisis: Russia, China, and Turkey. In: G. Carbone, C. Casola, Sahel: 10 Years of Instability: Local, Regional and International Dynamics (pp. 122- 124), Ledi Publishing, Milan.
• Pyka, A., 2020. Global position and future of Algeria after the Revolution of Smiles, European Journal of Geopolitics, 8, pp. 38-52.
• Radio France, 2020. La France et les pays du G5 Sahel ont-ils trouvé un sens à leur mission? Retrieved: https://www.radiofrance.fr/franceculture/podcasts/les-enjeuxinternationaux/la-france-et-les-pays-du-g5-sahel-ont-ils-trouve-unsens-a-leur-mission-8743481
• Recchia, S., Tardy, T., 2020. French military operations in Africa: Reluctant multilateralism, Journal of Strategic Studies, 2.
• Reeves, R., 2014. Five Strategic Failures of French Intervention in Mali. Retrieved: https://www.thebrokeronline.eu/five-strategicfailures-of-the-french-intervention-in-mali-d98/
• Reuters, 2013. France orders special forces to protect Niger uranium source. Retrieved: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-malirebels-niger-areva-idUSBRE90N0OD20130124
• Sergei, B., Schuurman, B., 2015. Operation Serval: A Strategic Analysis of the French Intervention in Mali 2013-2014, Journal of Strategic Studies, 801-825.
• Shurkin, M., 2021. France's War in the Sahel and the Evolution of CounterInsurgency Doctrine, Texas National Security Review, 55.
• Siméant, J., Traoré, L., 2012. Mali: Le Putsch Et Le Nord Vus De Bamako, Centre européen de sociologie et de science politique, Paris.
• Sıradağ, A., 2014. Understanding French Foreign and Security Policy towards Africa: Pragmatism or Altruism, Afro Eurasian Studies Journal, 3(1), 102.
• Spet, S., 2015. Operation Serval: analyzing the French strategy against Jihadists in Mali, Air & Space Power Journal - Africa and Francophonie, 66.
• Stevens, F., Kool, D., 2022. The EU as a Soft Power Superpower: Why a Green Marshall Plan for the Sahel Is Imperative, Royal institute for international relations (Egmont), Brussels.
• Tardy, T., 2016. France: The Unlikely Return to UN Peacekeeping, International Peacekeeping , 23(5), 610-629.
• Tardy, T., 2020. France's military operations in Africa: Between institutional pragmatism and agnosticism, Journal of Strategic Studies, 3.
• Tertrais, B., 2013. Leading on the Cheap? French Security Policy in Austerity, The Washington Quarterly, 53.
• Thompson, J., Doxsee, C., Bermudez Jr., J., 2022. Tracking the Arrival of Russia's Wagner Group in Mali. Retrieved from The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS): https://www.csis.org/analysis/tracking-arrival-russias-wagnergroup-mali
• Tubiana, J., 2021. How France Undermines Democracy in Chad. Retrieved from Foreign Policy: https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/05/24/france-macron-chaddeby-democracy-g5-sahel/
• Tull, D.M., 2019. Rebuilding Mali's army: The dissonant relationship between Mali and its international partners, International Affairs, 95(2), 405-422.
• Tull, D.M., Erforth, B., 2022. The failure of French Sahel policy: an opportunity for European cooperation? Retrieved from Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik | German Institute for International and Security Affairs: https://www.swp-berlin.org/publikation/mtaspotlight-13-the-failure-of-french-sahel-policy
• Utley, R., 1998. The new French interventionism, Civil wars, 2(1), 83-103.
• Walker, R.B., 2010. After the Globe, Before the World, Routledge, London.
• Walther, O., Christopoulos, D., 2014. Islamic Terrorism and the Malian Rebellion. Terrorism and Political Violence, 501-506.
• Whitehouse, B., Strazzari, F., 2015. Introduction: Rethinking Challenges, African Security, 213-226.
• Wilczyński, P.L., 2018. International recognition as a tool of military conflicts solution, European Journal of Geopolitics, 6, pp. 66-87.
• Wilczyński, P.L., 2021. Arms trade and resources exploitation - survey of neo-colonialism and neo-imperialism in Africa, European Journal of Geopolitics, 9, pp. 61-92.
• Wilén, N., 2022. When things fall apart - France's withdrawal from Mali. Retrieved from Royal Institute for International Relations: https://www.egmontinstitute.be/when-things-fall-apart-franceswithdrawal-from-mali/
• Wing, S., 2013. Mali: Politics of a Crisis, African Affairs, 112(448), 476- 485.

Identifiers

Biblioteka Nauki

55541880