Forced Withdrawal

The Case of France in the Sahel Region

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.59569/jceeas.2023.3.4.242

Keywords:

French military operations, France’s Africa policy, Central Sahel, West Africa, French withdrawal from Africa, Russian influence in Africa

Abstract

Once part of the French colonial empire, the Sahel region played an important role in France’s Africa policy. All French presidents had their specific approach towards the region. Emanuel Macron, with his 2017 speech on the Sorbonne even claimed that the Sahel is not just important for France but the European Union as a whole. But the Europeanisation went hand in hand with serious French commitment too. Since Bamako’s invitation France had a significant military presence in the region, which may have transformed over time, but remained in the region. However until 2022 the status quo remained similar, lines of fragmentation became more and more visible. The coup epidemic, and growing Russian influence in the Central Sahel affected French interventions too, leading to a large scale withdrawal from the region. The present paper attempts to capture these changes in the relations between France and the Central Sahel.

Author Biography

Gergely Fejérdy, Pazmany Peter Catholic University

Gergely Fejérdy (PhD), diplomatic historian, university teacher, foreign affairs analyst, former diplomat, deputy-director at Otto von Habsburg Foundation. He completed his secondary education in Budapest, and pursued university studies in Budapest, Piliscsaba, Paris, Lyon, Leuven in Belgium, and Fribourg in Switzerland, on the subjects of history, French language, international relations, European studies and theology. He received a degree in 2001 at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences of Pázmány Péter Catholic University. In 2002, he gained a degree in European communication in Lyon (France), and he was awarded a PhD summa cum laude, in the history of modern international relations at Paris-Sorbonne University (France) in 2009. He started his career at PPKE Institute of History and at the International Relations Department of Corvinus University of Budapest as assistant professor and lecturer. From 2010 he worked as senior researcher of the Hungarian Institute of International Affairs, as a France and European Union expert. Between 2013 and 2016, he was member of the Council of Pázmány Péter Catholic University Doctoral School. Between 2015 and 2019 he worked as diplomat at the Embassy of Hungary in Paris. He is a member of several Hungarian and European professional research groups, member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences’ (MTA’s) public body, and recipient of several French and Hungarian science awards. His publications are available in the Hungarian National Scientific Bibliography (MTMT) database. He currently works for Pázmány Péter Catholic University, where he teaches contemporary history and International relations related issues. Actually he also deputy-director of Otto von Habsburg Foundation and annalist at Hungarian Institut for Foreign Affairs.

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Published

2024-07-01 — Updated on 2024-07-02

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How to Cite

Tánczos, M., & Fejérdy, G. (2024). Forced Withdrawal: The Case of France in the Sahel Region. Journal of Central and Eastern European African Studies, 3(4), 31–43. https://doi.org/10.59569/jceeas.2023.3.4.242 (Original work published July 1, 2024)

Issue

Vol. 3 No. 4 (2023): JCEEAS - Vol 3. Number 4 2023

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Articles