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Despite their criticisms of French military interventionism in Africa, François Mitterrand and François Hollande both ended up assuming the role of guardian of the African “backyard.” By comparing the first operations decided upon by the two Socialist presidents of the French Fifth Republic—Operation Manta in Chad in 1983 and Operation Serval in Mali in 2013—this article aims to examine the process of appropriation of this guardian role by each of these presidents. In spite of the changes caused by the end of bipolarity and the development of regional organizations, the execution of operation Serval, thirty years after operation Manta, bears witness not only to the survival of France’s role as guardian, but also to its new “credibility” tied to the rise of Jihadist groups.