France wants to achieve its ends mainly by defeating jihadists militarily, whereas local leaders want to secure political solutions through talks. Which looks a lot like a replay of old colonial-era dynamics.

June 6.– Operation Barkhane, launched in 2014, formally ended on 9 November 2022. But although France no longer has any troops in Mali, it still has nearly 3,000 military personnel in nearby Niger and Chad – as many as it did eight years ago. Refusing to admit defeat. it continues to do battle in the Sahel with ill-defined enemies conveniently labeled ‘terrorists’. This is a war of indefinite duration. Its legal basis is unclear (and never discussed by politicians) and it uses opaque methods that France even plans to extend to neighbouring countries on the Gulf of Guinea.

‘Barkhane 2’, as it is sometimes known, is headquartered in Niger’s capital, Niamey, where France has drones and fighter jets and around 1,200 troops. Most of the military land vehicles have already been shipped back to France but the air component remains in place for surveillance and air strikes.

June 2.– This week, politics in the UK and EU highlight one of history’s most ironic moments. In the UK, faced with Baroness Heather Hallett’s requests for access to Covid exchanges among senior government figures, the champions of ‘take back control’ squirm around. In the EU, those they accused of being anti-democratic are intensifying action to invigorate democracy against dark forces and to sustain participatory democracy.

All this is happening because both the UK and the EU face elections. In the EU, in June 2024 there will be elections to the European Parliament. It was first directly elected by voters from all nine members of the states comprising the then European Community (forerunner of the EU) in 1979. In those days, it was little more than a talking shop. But gradually it and the states’ governments made a reality of the principle of democratic accountability. As a result, the European Parliament has real power to legislate and hold member governments and the EU Commission to account over decisions taken together. Now it is acting to protect democracy.

Why the obsession with democracy?