Will President François Hollande’s decision to send French troops into battle against the insurgent fundamentalists in Mali prove a turning point for his faltering presidency? Not for the first time, a nice little war may serve to rescue a failing political reputation.
Hollande’s approval rating jumped from 40 to 44 per cent in the days after the Mali conflict began. Suddenly the man known as ‘Flanby’ — after the French wobbly pudding — looked tough. Pierre Méhaignerie, a former minister under François Mitterrand, applauded Hollande for ‘showing decisiveness, something he has not shown on other issues’.
On Monday, the French-led forces reoccupied Timbuktu, and the rebels were reported to be in retreat. But already ‘the Mali effect’ may be starting to wear off. Last week one French poll found that 60 per cent of voters had not changed their view of the President since the conflict began, and 10 per cent said that they thought less of him.
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