FRANÇAFRIQUE: FRANCO-AFRICAN RELATIONS AND FRENCH MILITARY ENGAGEMENT IN POST-COLONIAL AFRICA

Abstract

France has had a long, deeply embedded and often controversial history of engagement with Africa. As a former colonial power, France continues to exert strong influence over the politics, diplomacy, finance, military affairs and other aspects of national life of former African colonies. France’s influence is anchored on ‘Franceafrique’ policy with military relations at the heart of the policy engagement. While there are continuities in the manner of France’s paternalistic engagement with former African colonies, there are observable changes characterized by the former colonial master’s new found pragmatism. To this end, this article discusses Franco-African relations and France’s military engagement in post-colonial Africa paying attention to the shift in the nature and dynamics of the relationship. It explores how the embedded network of French military assets was deployed to effect unilateral military interventions in the decades after independence as the central plank to advance European nation’s interests in Africa. Following policy re-assessment, the article discusses how France’s military assets were deployed in the context of multilateral military engagements as represented by operations Serval and Barkhane. The article highlights how the new found pragmatism and multilateralism serves as the new template of France’s security framework in Africa especially in the fight against terrorism in the Sahel, albeit in the context of continuities.