Summary
One year on, the impact of the French intervention in northern Mali has been felt in most of the surrounding countries. These impacts include the displacement of jihadist paramilitary groups from Mali as well as the political consequences for states that have supported the French intervention. In 2014, as France downsizes its forces in Mali, it is implementing a major redeployment of its forces in Africa from coastal and urban bases to forward operating bases in the Sahel and Sahara. Securing Niger and monitoring southern Libya are particular concerns. Meanwhile, the US has been quietly extending its military reach through small deployments of Special Forces, private contractors, surveillance aircraft and drones all across the Sahel. The potential use of military tactics that have bolstered radicalism in other theatres of the ‘War on Terror’ risks a local backlash, as does the increasing reliance of French and US strategy on some of the region’s most authoritarian regimes.
