Analysts disagree on what drives France's interventions in Afghanistan, Libya and Ivory Coast
Supporters of Ivory Coast incumbent president protest in front of the national assembly in Paris. Photograph: Charles Platiau/Reuters
As French forces take part in three different wars for the first time in the history of the Fifth Republic, President Nicolas Sarkozy is under intense scrutiny at home and abroad over the motives for his foreign military expeditions.
With 4,000 French troops still in Afghanistan, French warplanes having fired the first shots in the western intervention in Libya, and with French tanks moving through the streets of Abidjan at the climax of Ivory Coast's civil war, there is little doubt that France's relationship with the rest of the world is on a new and more assertive footing.
What is less clear is whether the expeditionary surge is the result of a considered plan or a response to circumstances; whether it is driven by geopolitical factors or domestic political considerations.
Daniel Korski, an analyst at the European Council on Foreign Relations said that the French presence in Afghanistan should be considered separately.
"Afghanistan hasn't felt like a war for France for a long time, not since Kapisa," Korski said, referring to a Taliban ambush in 2008 in which 10 French soldiers were killed.
While France sees its role in Afghanistan as principally fulfilling its obligation to the Nato alliance, Sarkozy has taken the lead in Libya, conducting unilateral air strikes against Muammar Gaddafi's forces before consulting his allies and resisting Nato control for as long as possible.
The president has insisted the intervention over Benghazi was motivated by the desire to prevent a massacre, and so far his public has generally believed him.
"Sarkozy was a minister in the [Edouard] Balladur government, and witnessed the failure to act over Bosnia and Rwanda. He felt the shame of that failure to act," Korski said.
Once France had intervened in Libya, it was then impossible for it not to act in Ivory Coast, he added. "A tripwire connected the two. If there was a danger of civilians being massacred in a country where France had core interests and history, the Elysée felt it could not stand aside."
The sight of French tanks rumbling through an African capital has brought back memories of "Françafrique", the post-imperial policy of meddling in former colonies that was the hallmark of Sarkozy's predecessors. It appeared to fly in the face the president's declarations that France's patronising past was behind it, assertions he had backed up by withdrawing troops and closing military bases across the continent.
The Ivory Coast intervention has triggered an allergic reaction in some parts of Africa. Taxi drivers in the Cameroonian capital of Douala have staged demonstrations against French military action and a group of intellectuals has drawn up a petition against what it called "world imperialism" being played out across the border.
At home, Sarkozy has been accused of using war for domestic ends. Mustapha Tossa, a French-Moroccan journalist wrote on the news website lepost.fr: "This sudden passion of Nicolas Sarkozy for military operations raises numerous questions: over and above the political explanation that suggests the president of the Republic wants everyone to forget the failings in the Tunisian and Egyptian revolutions, suspicious voices are raised suggesting he wants to use international [affairs] to conquer what he has lost at home."
Jean-Marie Le Guen, a Socialist MP said: "There is a little bit of [George] Bush in Mr Sarkozy", adding that the president had "a habit of using force before politics without truly taking into consideration the current and future political consequences."
Richard Gowan, an analyst at New York University's Centre on International Cooperation argued, however, that rather than hurtling into a third conflict, Sarkozy had been excessively cautious in Ivory Coast.
"I don't think you can say the French approach has been zealous. The French tried to avoid firing a shot," Gowan said. He pointed out that in 2008, Sarkozy overruled his then foreign minister, Bernard Kouchner, who wanted to send troops to eastern Congo. This time, Gowan said, the ghosts of the past could not be ignored.
With 4,000 French troops still in Afghanistan, French warplanes having fired the first shots in the western intervention in Libya, and with French tanks moving through the streets of Abidjan at the climax of Ivory Coast's civil war, there is little doubt that France's relationship with the rest of the world is on a new and more assertive footing.
What is less clear is whether the expeditionary surge is the result of a considered plan or a response to circumstances; whether it is driven by geopolitical factors or domestic political considerations.
Daniel Korski, an analyst at the European Council on Foreign Relations said that the French presence in Afghanistan should be considered separately.
"Afghanistan hasn't felt like a war for France for a long time, not since Kapisa," Korski said, referring to a Taliban ambush in 2008 in which 10 French soldiers were killed.
While France sees its role in Afghanistan as principally fulfilling its obligation to the Nato alliance, Sarkozy has taken the lead in Libya, conducting unilateral air strikes against Muammar Gaddafi's forces before consulting his allies and resisting Nato control for as long as possible.
The president has insisted the intervention over Benghazi was motivated by the desire to prevent a massacre, and so far his public has generally believed him.
"Sarkozy was a minister in the [Edouard] Balladur government, and witnessed the failure to act over Bosnia and Rwanda. He felt the shame of that failure to act," Korski said.
Once France had intervened in Libya, it was then impossible for it not to act in Ivory Coast, he added. "A tripwire connected the two. If there was a danger of civilians being massacred in a country where France had core interests and history, the Elysée felt it could not stand aside."
The sight of French tanks rumbling through an African capital has brought back memories of "Françafrique", the post-imperial policy of meddling in former colonies that was the hallmark of Sarkozy's predecessors. It appeared to fly in the face the president's declarations that France's patronising past was behind it, assertions he had backed up by withdrawing troops and closing military bases across the continent.
The Ivory Coast intervention has triggered an allergic reaction in some parts of Africa. Taxi drivers in the Cameroonian capital of Douala have staged demonstrations against French military action and a group of intellectuals has drawn up a petition against what it called "world imperialism" being played out across the border.
At home, Sarkozy has been accused of using war for domestic ends. Mustapha Tossa, a French-Moroccan journalist wrote on the news website lepost.fr: "This sudden passion of Nicolas Sarkozy for military operations raises numerous questions: over and above the political explanation that suggests the president of the Republic wants everyone to forget the failings in the Tunisian and Egyptian revolutions, suspicious voices are raised suggesting he wants to use international [affairs] to conquer what he has lost at home."
Jean-Marie Le Guen, a Socialist MP said: "There is a little bit of [George] Bush in Mr Sarkozy", adding that the president had "a habit of using force before politics without truly taking into consideration the current and future political consequences."
Richard Gowan, an analyst at New York University's Centre on International Cooperation argued, however, that rather than hurtling into a third conflict, Sarkozy had been excessively cautious in Ivory Coast.
"I don't think you can say the French approach has been zealous. The French tried to avoid firing a shot," Gowan said. He pointed out that in 2008, Sarkozy overruled his then foreign minister, Bernard Kouchner, who wanted to send troops to eastern Congo. This time, Gowan said, the ghosts of the past could not be ignored.
Gardian.co.uk
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