Paper short abstract:

The Sahel remains mired in a status quo of hellish violence despite its invasion by French troops under the guise of security. This article aims to analyze the spectre of Françafrique on this unprecedented insecurity through the external interference, geopolitical calculation and factious collusion.

Paper long abstract:

Social science research is a constant search for meaning. This work consists of establishing the shadow of françafrique on the chronic and organised insecurity in the Sahel through France's recent military interventions. A singular relationship, françafrique endures, transforms and intelligently adapts to the current realities of this region, which is prey to the instrumentalisation of the war on terror. In fact, despite the intense presence of French troops for more than a decade, terrorist groups are on the rise and are insidiously spreading their offensives as far as the countries of the Gulf of Guinea. This increased militarisation of the Sahel in defiance of state sovereignty and the development of structural violence illustrate the faces of modern-day Françafrique in the name of the fight against terrorism and international security. A policy of recolonisation that is the breeding ground of Françafrique and accentuates the military dependence of the already fragile Sahel states on the former metropolis. It is therefore necessary to ask the following questions: How is France trying to re-legitimise its recent military interventions? What link can be made between these foreign interventions and the sovereignty of the Sahel countries? The spectre of Françafrique in the Sahel is a tangle of concepts: modern colonisation, political decolonisation, political economy, business, geopolitics and diplomacy against a backdrop of state breakdown and structural violence. Their epistemological analysis contributes to the social science literature on the influence of Françafrique in the political, economic, social, cultural and military spheres on the African continent in general.