Operation Barkhane and Boko Haram: French Counterterrorism and Military Cooperation in the Sahel
Résumé
This article examines the current coalition campaign against Boko Haram in Nigeria
in the context of French military cooperation with the Francophone countries
involved. The French government is actively supporting and facilitating the
offensive against Boko Haram through both structural and operational military
cooperation with Chad, Niger, and Cameroon. The current effectiveness and
operational state of the armies in those three countries is largely due to long-term
French strategic thinking about its influence on the continent. Finally, France is
also militarily active on the continent with 3000 soldiers deployed for Operation
Barkhane. Barkhane, while primarily aimed at containing the threat of Al Qaeda
in the Islamic Maghreb, is also designed, in cooperation with partner countries, to
prevent a link-up between Boko Haram and the other terrorist groups in the Sahel.