France

Among lead nations France occupies a special position. It can be seen as one of the single most important countries within the African security regime complex. Although France is not an African country it maintains and occupies a central role. In comparison to Nigeria and South Africa, France commands over significantly larger military and political resources and used them fervently long before most African nations became independent. Despite a general down-sizing of the French military presence in Africa, the country still operates military bases in Chad, Djibouti, Gabon, Ivory Coast and Senegal, has a permanent seat in the UN Security Council and is the driving force behind the EU’s growing peacekeeping engagement in Africa. Furthermore, France has reconciled long-standing differences with NATO in Europe and increasingly cooperates with its former historical competitor in Africa, the United Kingdom.2 Since African nations sought independence from France, French security and military involvement have undergone substantial changes. While the first decades after independence France effectively kept its interests in a unilateral neocolonial style French influence is now much more mediated through multilateral organisations such as the UN, EU and AU. For a non-African state France’s influence on African affairs remains exceptional, especially in Francophone Africa. Right after Francophone countries received their independence, France effectively established a neocolonial regime of influence. It maintained tens of thousand troops and military bases, and concluded a number of defence and cooperation agreements. It established what came to be known as its pré carré or zone of influence. As France was not a full member of NATO it mostly escaped Cold War rivalries with the Soviet Union in Africa. France actively nurtured its close military, political, economic and cultural relations

in Francophone countries. This close network of personal, business and military relations has been labelled ‘Françafrique’. De facto, France has been an interventionist actor. Between 1962 and 1995, 35 military interventions can be counted.3 These unilateral interventions received some criticism as they showed a clear tendency to secure domestic power for France-friendly leaders. While France has ceased to deploy openly neocolonial style interventions, history casts a long shadow over French military engagement in Africa. Indeed, some French initiated EU peace operations as EUFOR Chad/CAR have de facto also led to pro-French governments staying in power (Chad). In addition to unilateral military engagement, France has a long history of supporting UN peacekeeping, since 2006 constantly contributing between 1,000 and 2,000 troops (see Figure 9.1) to UN missions. Together with Italy, France is the country that provides the most troops from Europe. These numbers do not only stand out in European comparison. The US pulled out of UN peacekeeping after its Somalian disaster. Although French peacekeeping got into disrepute in Rwanda, leading a UN operation while a genocide was unfolding, the country never disengaged from peacekeeping and playing a significant role in African security policy. As a reaction to the Rwandan catastrophe France first reduced deployments drastically from 5,082 troops in 1995 to 494 in 1996; however, it soon resumed deployment of more significant numbers. Still, the mid and end 1990s can be seen as a turning point. Not only was the French role in Rwanda receiving criticism but also its support for Mobuto increased its international isolation.