Operation Barkhane was launched in August of 2014, after Operation Epervier ended. It ran through all those years even after the end of the Cold War and the Chad-Libya conflict. It also replaced Operation Serval in Mali and now runs in five Sahelian countries with around 4,500 personnel. Barkhane is France’s largest foreign military deployment and receives drone and logistical support from the U.S.
French special operations forces deploying by helicopter in Mali. image: @EtatMajorFR/Twitter
The Barkhane mission statement is to assist in the War on Terror in the Sahara and Sahel regions. However, the latest strike was not made against terrorists, but against rebels who are looking to overthrow the government of Chad. While the Déby government has ruled with an iron fist for years, it is not as if the URF provides a drastically different alternative. The URF is led by Timan Erdimi—the cousin of the president and a crucial part of the country’s government before he joined the rebel faction.
The URF may work in conjunction with several groups in the region and be predominately Muslim, but it cannot be considered a jihadi movement or even ideologically similar to these different groups. The Chadian government is currently fighting Boko Haram, ISGS, and AQIM among others around the Lake Chad Basin, but those groups are focused more on religious ideology than politics.
One man’s freedom fighter is another man’s terrorist
The French support for Chad fits into the legal framework of a defense cooperation agreement set up in 1976, though since that date it’s been followed with broad interpretation. Yet the question arises: Is keeping Déby in power the same as fighting terrorism? If the answer is no, then it is difficult to comprehend why the URF fighters would be viewed as jihadis. The airstrikes on the rebels become puzzling, too, when looking at the mandate of Operation Barkhane.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian defended the strikes in front of French lawmakers after he was questioned why France was again propping up African strongmen. He argued Déby has been a strong ally in the fight against jihadis in the region.
Conférence-débat de Jean-Yves Le Drian
One of the most vociferous rebukes in parliament came from the far-left deputy Clementine Autain: “It all seems like a pretext to give firmer support to Déby’s regime.” He added, “I’m astonished by this unconditional support for Déby, while you pass over in silence his authoritarian practices and his human rights violations.”
“There was a written request by the chief of state,” Le Drian countered.
Some French analysts such as Roland Marchal are also surprised by the French military’s latest strike. He was quoted in the New York Times asking, “How can we convince the Europeans to have a decent policy in Africa when we do this in Chad?”
He added, “France is promoting this discourse on jihadist movements, that they spring from bad governance and human rights violations. But if you look at Chad, you have exactly the same thing,” Mr. Marchal said. “With such good friends, why do you need enemies?”
Chadian officials have cleverly used the War on Terror to their advantage by rebranding rebels as terrorists and mercenaries. Déby’s government was also part of France’s intervention in Mali and therefore gained recognition as a trusted partner in the region. After Chad was placed on Trump’s Muslim ban list, allies quickly and successfully lobbied to get Chad off the list, since it was a trusted partner in the War on Terror. According to some experts, due to the fight in the Lake Chad basin, the Chadian military is largely overstretched, leaving the country in need of French strikes to protect it from rebels.
Source: French Ministry of Defence
Opposition figure Saleh Kebzabo was quoted in the New York Times stating, “We doubt the legality of it. We think it was a political error. Barkhane’s mission is not to interfere in internal Chadian affairs.” He then asked, “Is the French position to maintain the government in place, even by force? Déby has imposed a dictatorship on us.”
The French government seems to subscribe to the mantra of “Better the devil you know than the one you don’t.” Yes, Déby has been a reliable partner in the GWOT, but is it worth it in the face of human rights violations? Furthermore, it is disputable if this latest attack on the convoy was absolutely necessary given that it occurred so far from the capital. It seems the strikes were a political move by France to show its commitment to Déby’s government. However, it risks inviting the resentment of the opposition, who will not soon forget this support. Parallels can be drawn to America’s support for the Shah of Persia in Iran, and the rest is history. Only time will tell if this strategy will work for the French government.
The devil you know: Is the French government overstepping with airstrikes in Chad?
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The devil you know: Is the French government overstepping with airstrikes in Chad?
Ahmed Hassan
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Around the 5th of February, French Mirage 2000s carried out several airstrikes to stop a caravan of “rebels” on their approach to the capital of Chad, N’Djamena. The interdiction came after the Chadian government requested support from France in the neutralization of Union of Resistance Forces (URF). The URF convoy ostensibly left southern Libya—a fact disputed […]
