FRENCH INTERVENTION

1964, Gabon: French forces intervene to restore president after coup.

- 1968-1972, Chad: French troops intervene to put down northern rebellion.


- 1978-80, Chad: French forces defend government against rebels.


- 1978, Zaire: French and Belgian paratroops drop into the mineral-rich Katanga region of Zaire (today known as the Democratic Republic of Congo), where rebels are holding Europeans.


- 1979, Central African Republic: French forces depose the eccentric Central African "emperor" Jean-Bedel Bokassa.


- 1983-84, Chad: New French intervention in Chad, where the government is threatened by rebels backed by Colonel Moamer Kadhafi's Libya.


- 1986, Chad: Further operation against Chadian rebels; mainly using aviation.


- 1986, Togo: French reinforcements sent after coup attempt, which fails.


- 1989, Comoros: French forces go in when president is assassinated and mercenaries headed by Bob Denard, also French, take power.


- 1990, Gabon: French troops support the regime of president Omar Bongo; evacuate foreign nationals from cities hit by rioting.


- 1990-1993, Rwanda: French soldiers help evacuate French and other Europeans after rebels invade the country.


- 1991, Zaire: French troops deploy capital Kinshasa during riots against the regime of Mobutu Sese Seko.


- 1992-94, Somalia: France intervenes alongside the US-led "Restore Hope" operation in Somalia.


- 1994: Rwanda: Two separate French interventions follow the death in a plane crash of Rwandan president Juvenal Habyarimana, which sparks genocidal killings that leave some 800,000 people dead.


France's "Operation Turquoise", which also involves troops in neighbouring Zaire, is later considered a disaster, and the Rwandan authorities accuse it of not only failing to stop the massacres but also of facilitating them.


- 1995: Comoros: New French intervention to halt a coup, again led by the French mercenary Bob Denard.


- 1996-7: Central African Republic: Two French interventions to maintain order after munities among the local military.


- 1997: Republic of Congo: French troops intervene during civil war; help evacuate foreigners.


- 1996: Cameroon: France provides military assistance to Cameroon, which is involved in a dispute with Nigeria over an oil-rich border area.


- 1998: Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly Zaire): Intervention to evacuate foreigners from Kinshasa during unrest following the overthrow of the Mobutu regime by Laurent-Desire

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