Why Are The French in Mali?

                 by David Parmer / Tokyo

A quick glance at a map of Africa will show you that the country of Mali looks very much like a piece in a giant jigsaw puzzle. And that is just about right, for Mali is a key piece in a very complex puzzle that is the Sahel region of Africa. The Sahel is a semi-arid region below the Sahara Desert that extends from the Atlantic Ocean to the Red Sea. Countries that make up the Sahel include Mauritania, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Chad, Sudan, Ethiopia, and Somalia.

Why Mali is a key piece in this region is the Islamist insurgency that has plagued the region since 2012. As a result of the spillover from events in Libya, the nomadic Tuareg peoples started an insurgency to declare their independent state. This revolution was said to be hijacked by militant Islamists during a military coup in Mali. To counter the development of an independent Islamist state in the region, France, Mali’s former colonial overseer, intervened militarily.

France’s intervention was successful, and the lost territory in the North was reclaimed for Mali’s central government. Sensing that the battle had been won, but that the war was far from over, the French launched operation Barkhane to deal with not just Mali but the whole Sahel region. France’s objectives were not only to prevent the creation of failed states in the region, but also to prevent the creation of a terrorist safe haven in the Sahel. The 2014 French mission continues into the present. France has suffered casualties and continues to do. The fighting which, resembles combat in both Iraq and Afghanistan, is characterized by deadly ambush and the use of IEDs (Improvised Explosive Devices) and mines.

France was not alone in doing the work of bringing security to the Sahel region. In 2014 a security alliance was formed in the region consisting of Mauritania, Mali, Burkina Faso Niger and Chad. This organization, known as the G5 Sahel, has the backing of both the EU and the United Nations. The alliance focuses both on civil action and military cooperation.

Another attempt to bring peace and stability to the region was the formation of a United Nations peacekeeping force in 2013 which was called MINUSMA (United Nations Multi-Dimensional Stabilization Mission in Mali). Police from 27 countries and  peacekeeping troops from 57 countries take part in this mission.

Latest count shows:

• 12,000 military personnel
• 1,700 police personnel
• 1,200 civilians

MINUSMA is considered one of the most dangerous UN deployments with the organization sustaining high casualties over the years.

In late Spring 2020, Mali’s president Ibrahim Boubacar Keita has hinted at the possibility of beginning talks with the Islamists in the North of his country. As a pre-condition, the militants are calling for the removal of all foreign troops including the French and the UN. 

Having seen what happens when an IS-like group gains total power as in the case of the so-called Islamic State in Iraq, it is unlikely that France, the G5 Sahel or the UN will agree to these demands. Perhaps Mali’s president has a wish to appear reasonable in considering these talks, but a power vacuum in Mali is not the answer to the country’s problem or to those of the region for that matter.

So what is France doing in Mali? For the time being she is keeping the peace, such as it is, and providing security. And maybe that is as good as it gets for now in the puzzling and volatile region that is Africa’s Sahel.

Photo: Fred Marie via flickr