French counter-terrorism policy in Mali after 2012

This research focuses on evaluating to determine whether French couter-terrorism policy in Mali since 2012 has been effective in order to eradicate terrorism. Since 2013, part of the French army has been deployed in Mali and more broadly in Sahel's region during two operations : Serval and Barkhane. The Sahel is a strip of land south of the Sahara and includes several countries such as Mali, Niger, Mauritania, Burkina Faso and Chad. Mali is the country in the Sahel that has been most affected by terrorism. France decided to help Mali in 2012 following the request of the then Malian president Mahamadou Issoufou to stem the spread of terrorism within the country. This operation ended on 9 November 2022 and was a failure, as terrorism spread throughout Mali and also spread to other Sahelian countries. I wanted to know whether, in view of the initial elements and after the official end of Operation Barkhane - which was the largest foreign military force deployed in the Sahel - if the french counter terrorism policy in Mali was effective? However, researchers have not waited for the end of Operation Barkhane to consider the success or otherwise of this operation and its impact on Franco-African relations. Following the example of Jean-François Bayart and Marc-Antoine Pérousse de Montclos, researchers have tried to find out whether the methods used against terrorism have been adapted to the terrain? Did terrorism in the Sahel proliferate further because of the initial political instability of these country or was it the initial political chaos that led to the rise of terrorism? This paper is divided into four chapters. The first part is devoted to do an historic background of France-Mali relationship. The second chapter is entirely devoted to the French legal framework regarding external military operations . The third chapter will talk about the two french interventions in Mali ? how many French soldiers have been deployed? Finally, the last part will address the consequences of theses interventions first of all on terrorist activities in this region and on Franco-African relations.