ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the concept of the minofrancophone state and discusses quantitative data on Francophone participation in peace operations, thereby proposing a probabilistic estimation of the effective French-speaking share in deployed contingents. The expected operational benefits of sending French-speaking peacekeepers to French-speaking areas are then critically examined. The chapter argues that Organisation international de la Francophonie (OIF) membership is not a reliable marker of French language proficiency for troop-contributing countries to peace operations. It dismisses the assumption that sending peacekeeping personnel from francophone countries automatically improves the efficiency of peace missions deployed in francophone areas. Finally, Belgium, as a small minofrancophone state, is analysed as a case study that highlights the limited influence of linguistic factors on its peacekeeping policy. The chapter demonstrates the weakness of the language-matching argument, with empirical findings from the Belgian participation in the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).
