French officials and the insecurities of change in sub-Saharan Africa: Dakar, 19 August 1960 revisited
How would French services operating on the ground, charged with ‘decolonizing’ African territories, adapt to the new situation? This question is posed by Alexander Keese with regard to a dramatic incident in the decolonization process, the August 1960 stand-off between Senegalese and Soudanese politicians and officials in Dakar, an event that led to the end of the short-lived Federation of Mali between Soudan (present-day Mali) and Senegal. French military commanders were still in charge of the vast majority of the armed forces in these former colonial territories. These commanders were faced with an unfamiliar process of decision-making. Keese analyses the behaviour of these remaining French representatives on the ground, and comes to a new interpretation of a crucial event in the early history of Franco-African networks.