The French Special Forces were also in Africa assigned to France’s counter-insurgency mission known as Operation Barkhane. Operation Barkhane which has over 3,000 French military forces along with their special operations units assigned to it, began in August 2014 to quell the rising terrorist presence and activities within Sahel region of Western Africa. Based in the capitol city of N’Djamena, Chad, Operation Barkhane was to be France’s "pillar of counterterrorism operations" with its focus being on al-Qaeda linked and other terrorist organizations within Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso, and parts of Chad itself.
The French Special Forces have an undisclosed number of its elite forces operating in Burkina Faso that shares a large border with Mali and southwest Niger near the Tongo Tongo region where the ambush on the Green Beret ODA took place.