Desgrandchamps, Marie-Luce <br/><br/>
Military support and humanitarian aid. French ambiguity in Biafra 

 -  2016.<br/>							 
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<br/><br/> This paper analyzes the reasons and the means of the French involvement in the Nigeria-Biafra war (1967-1970), a conflict that took place outside the traditional “pré carré” of France on the African continent. It studies more particularly the relief operations lead by the French Red Cross and thus shows how De Gaulle conceived humanitarian aid as an integral dimension of his foreign policy. Discussing the relationship between the humanitarian aspect and the military aspect of the Elysian support for Biafra, this paper sheds light on the ambiguity of the relief operations, but also underlines that humanitarian aid is not such an easy tool of foreign policy to manipulate.