Conflict coverage · Central Sahel

Launch of Operation Serval

11 Jan 2013Key eventEssentialKonna / Sévaré axis

Explore the system13 analytical layers in this conflict

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Military & security

Effects & resilience

MilitaryNorthern Mali / Azawad

After a jihadist column pushes south toward Sévaré and the road to Bamako, France intervenes at Mali's request with airstrikes and a rapid ground force.

Why it mattersThe intervention prevented the probable fall of the Malian state — but it froze, rather than solved, the questions of governance, legitimacy and the north's status that had produced the collapse.

Confidence: HighSources: Established historical recordMethodology Corrections

Related structure

4 records that this event names, or that name it. Every one is an explicit reference in a published record — nothing here is inferred from subject matter.

Participants

Organisations this event records, with the role and confidence it states.

Operation Serval · atlasParticipanthigh confidence

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Where this fits

This is one entry in the Sahel timeline. The full Key Events surface carries every dated turning point with its filters and its essential subset, and this event in place shows what came before and after it. How Vigil grades, dates and sources its claims is set out in the methodology.