THE SPECTRUM
DEFENCE & DIPLOMACY
New York to N'Djamena: How should France negotiate American involvement in the Sahel? by
Noah Trowbridge
‘Africa is home to the fastest growing economies and populations in the world, sits at crossroads of international commerce and trade, and watches over the world’s most important sea lines of communication’.1 General Stephen Townsend’s opening remark for the U.S. Africa Command’s 2020 Posture Statement to Congress encapsulates the growing importance that African states, economies, populations and resources will have on the global stage throughout the 21st century. Yet for the past decade, the successive administrations have made it clear that the ‘rebalance toward the Asia-Pacific region’ will remain the figurehead of America’s long-term global strategy.2 To France and its European allies, this is an extremely alarming situation. Indeed, Sahelian instability exacerbates the proliferation of violent extremist organisations (VEO) and fuels major migration flows towards the Mediterranean. France must therefore advocate for continued U.S. engagement on the continent. This paper will argue that this can be achieved through negotiations with the U.S. Department of Defence to influence the formulation of its 2021 Global Posture Review. The French negotiating strategy should integrate the three following arguments: Africa is at risk of falling within the Chinese sphere of influence, current U.S. deployment is highly cost-effective and European allies are committed to bearing the bulk of the burden.
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BACKGROUND Navigating French and American interests in West Africa is a highly complex task due to the sheer size of the region and the variety of actors that operate within it. Despite the successive waves of decolonisation, France has always sought to maintain its old African colonies within its sphere of influence through an array of bilateral economic and military agreements. While President Sarkozy promised to bring an end to the Françafrique strategy in 2007, the continued deployment of French troops around the continent – particularly in the Sahel region through operations Serval and Barkhane since 2013 and 2014 – highlights the importance of African security on the French defence agenda. Indeed, this strategic interest in the Sahel emanates from a historical sense of special responsibility, the incentive to secure access to the regional energetic hub, but most importantly the need to counter the resurgence of VEO. This view is not completely shared by American policymakers, however, who advance that ‘the problems that manifest from West Africa will manifest into Europe before they manifest in America’.3 Despite Biden’s promise of reinvigorating transatlantic alliances, France cannot expect continued American engagement in the Sahel. Indeed, analysis of recent U.S. strategic reviews outlines three core interests: containing the rise
