At the beginning of May 2026, a summit titled “Africa forward,” organized for the first time in an English-speaking country, Kenya, brought together 35 heads of state and government from across the continent, as well as representatives from civil societies and major French and African groups. The main focus was on investments and business.
France, challenged and even expelled from some of its former possessions, and politically weakened, seeks to maintain its presence on the continent through economic means, including in English-speaking countries. A movement of economic redeployment has already been initiated by several other countries: China, Turkey, India, Gulf countries, Spain, Germany, and Italy.
The announcement in November 2022 of the end of the French operation Barkhane in the Sahel was widely interpreted as the conclusion of a strategic cycle that began in the early 2000s, marked by the central role of external counter-terrorism, stabilization, and crisis management operations. Barkhane succeeded Serval, with a broad regional footprint in Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso, Chad, and Mauritania. The Sahel has transitioned over the years from being solely a terrorism combat zone to a battleground for power rivalries, where Russia, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates are particularly active. The information war is often cited as Barkhane’s weak point, where France has been subjected to opposing narratives painting it as intrusive and ineffective, raising questions about its legitimacy. Currently, there is a growing inclination in the French public discourse to view Barkhane as a failure to be forgotten.
For this fifth mission in partnership with INALCO, the National Institute of Oriental Languages and Civilizations, and its DECRIPT program focusing on the international system’s transformations and the political and institutional effects of emerging civilizational narratives on the global stage, our guests are:
– Raphaëlle Chevrillon-Guibert, a researcher in Political Science at IRD, Institute of Research for Development, and a member of the PRODIG laboratory. – Marc-Antoine Pérouse de Montclos, research director at the Institute of Research for Development and co-director of the Afrique(s) collection at FMSH, Fondation Maison des Sciences de l’Homme.
