How France can avoid a “forever war” in the Sahel

FOR THE past eight years France has been leading a counter-terrorism war in Africa. The fighting is mainly in three countries—Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso—and straddles an area four times the size of France itself, stretching from the great dunes on the southern edge of the Sahara down through the thorny acacia scrub of the Sahel.It is brutal. Last year jihadist-related violence in the region claimed about 6,200 lives. Almost 2m people have fled their homes. The conflict is not just causing misery among the world’s poorest and fastest-growing populations. It also threatens to spread chaos into coastal countries such as Ivory Coast, Ghana and Benin, whose stability is essential if this huge part of Africa is ever to grow rich.