Opération Barkhane

Overview

Operation Barkhane was a counterinsurgency operation that started on 1 August 2014 and formally ended on 9 November 2022. It was led by the French military against Islamist groups in Africa's Sahel region and consisted of a roughly 3,000-strong French force, which was permanently headquartered in N'Djamena, the capital of Chad. The operation was led in co-operation with five countries, all of which are former French colonies that span the Sahel: Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger. Mali was a part of the operation until August 2022. The countries are collectively referred to as the "G5 Sahel". The operation was named after a crescent-shaped dune type that is common in the Sahara desert.

Overview adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Significance

Operation Barkhane was a French-led counterinsurgency operation active from August 2014 to November 2022 across Africa's Sahel region, coordinated with five G5 Sahel partner states — Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, and Niger. Deploying a permanently stationed force of roughly 3,000 troops headquartered in N'Djamena, France sought to suppress Islamist armed groups, including AQIM, across a vast and difficult theater. The operation represented France's principal military commitment in the Sahel during this period and was explicitly built on cooperation with former French colonies sharing the region. Mali's withdrawal from the operation in August 2022, followed by the formal termination of Barkhane in November 2022, marked a significant contraction of French influence in the region and reflected deteriorating political relationships with several partner governments, underscoring the limits of externally led counterinsurgency frameworks in the broader War in the Sahel.

Forces & casualties

Commanders (126)