Sunday, January 20, 2013

Nothing New Under The Sun

From 1959 to 1979 France intervened militarily in ten Sub-Saharan African countries of which nine were former French colonies and one a former Belgian colony. Below is a list of these countries and the years of French military operations. Due to the limitations of JSTOR with regards to finding up to date material I have not yet found a list of French military interventions in Africa during the last thirty years. With the exception of Zaire where France had to share influence with Belgium and the US all of the countries below could be described as French neo-colonial states for most of the post-colonial era.

Cameroon - 1959-1964
Senegal - 1959-1960 and 1962
Congo (French) - 1960 and 1962
Gabon - 1960, 1962, and 1964
Chad - 1960-1963, 1968-1975, 1977-1980
Mauritania - 1961 and 1977-1978
Niger - 1973
Djibouti - 1976-1977
Zaire - 1977 and 1978
Central African Republic - 1979

Source: Robin Luckham, "French Militarism in Africa," Review of African Political Economy (May-Aug. 1982), table 2, p. 61.

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