The Agacher Strip War (French: Guerre de la Bande d’Agacher), also known as the Christmas War (French: Guerre de Noël), was a brief conflict fought by Burkina Faso and Mali over a strip of land along the border in northern Burkina Faso from 25 to 30 December 1985. The war ended in a ceasefire. The Agacher Strip had been subject to a border dispute between Mali and Burkina Faso since the 1960s. Following armed clashes in 1974, both countries agreed to mediation to resolve their differences. Progress on a solution stalled, and in 1983 Burkinabé President Thomas Sankara and Malian President Moussa Traoré decided to have the border dispute settled by the International Court of Justice and subsequently petitioned the body to resolve the issue.
In 1985, tensions rose between the Burkinabé and Malian governments as Sankara called for a revolution in Mali while Traoré's regime struggled to manage social unrest. After Burkinabé officials conducted a census in disputed border communities, Malian forces launched an offensive on 25 December with aircraft and tanks. Overwhelmed by Mali's superior firepower, Burkinabé forces lost control of the Agacher border communities and resorted to guerrilla tactics to stall Malian tanks. Mali subsequently occupied most of the Agacher Strip, while both countries conducted raids on each other's locales. A ceasefire was reached on 30 December, and in early 1986 successful mediation by West African countries resulted in an agreement between Sankara and Traoré to avoid further hostilities. The relatively poor performance of Burkina Faso during the war damaged the credibility of its revolutionary rulers and led them to project a more moderate international image. In Mali, the war added to the country's economic difficulties but boosted the popularity of Traoré's struggling regime. The International Court of Justice later ruled the Agacher Strip to be split among the two countries, a settlement which both accepted.
Background and border dispute
In 1919, France reorganised its colonial administration in French West Africa and created the new colony of Upper Volta, splitting it off of Upper Senegal and Niger. The colony was abolished in 1932 and merged with surrounding territories until France decided to restore it in 1947. The Republic of Upper Volta and the Republic of Mali were granted independence in 1960. In north-eastern Upper Volta, an approximately portion of land bordered to the north by Mali and Niger to the east and centered around the Béli River was subject to a territorial dispute. The border in the area—known as the Agacher Strip—was drawn using old French maps but never fully demarcated as French colonial ordinances had not carefully delineated the frontier. Upper Volta relied on colonial borders to stake its territorial claims; maps dating from 1920 showed several border communities within the colony of Upper Volta. Mali relied on ethnic arguments; Malian people had established several communities in the region to take advantage of grazing land. The Agacher was also rumored to possess valuable manganese deposits, though there was little evidence that these actually existed. On 17 September 1983, Sankara, a veteran of the 1974 border clashes, visited Mali and met with Traoré. With Algerian mediation, the two agreed to have the border dispute settled by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and subsequently petitioned the body to resolve the issue. At the same time, a new joint commission for bilateral cooperation was established, and the following month, Upper Volta lifted its veto to allow Mali to join the West African Economic and Monetary Union as a conciliatory measure. In August 1984, the CNR changed the name of Upper Volta to Burkina Faso. On 3 April 1985, the ICJ began examining the border dispute.
Prelude
Low rainfall in Mali created a severe drought in 1984, forcing Malian ranchers to drive their cattle south into northern Burkina Faso in search of water and adequate grazing land. This led to conflict with local crop farmers. In July 1985, Burkina Faso declared the Malian secretary general of the Economic Community of West Africa, Drissa Keita, a persona non grata after he criticised Sankara's regime. In September Sankara delivered a speech in which he called for a revolution in Mali. Malian leaders were particularly sensitive to the inflammatory rhetoric, as their country was experiencing social unrest. Around the same time Sankara and other key figures in the CNR became convinced that Traoré was harbouring opposition to the Burkinabé regime in Bamako and plotting to provoke a border war which would be used to support a counterrevolution. In October Burkina Faso and Mali filed their first briefs with the ICJ concerning the boundary dispute.
Tensions at the border first began to rise on 24 November when one Burkinabé national killed another near the border in Soum Province. Malian police crossed the boundary to arrest the murderer and also detained several members of a local Committee for the Defense of the Revolution who were preparing a tribunal. Three days later Malian police entered Kounia to "restore order". Burkina Faso made diplomatic representations on the incidents to Mali, but was given no formal response. At the beginning of December Burkina Faso informed Mali and other surrounding countries that it was conducting its decennial national census from 10 to 20 December. In Dionouga Malian nationals threw stones at the Burkinabé census personnel. In response, a few Burkina Faso Armed Forces units were sent into the three Burkinabé-administered villages. Not all troops were withdrawn before hostilities broke out. According to an analyses by the United States Central Intelligence Agency, it was also hoped that a war would distract the Malian populace from their country's troubled economy. Former Sankara aide Paul Michaud wrote that the Burkinabé president had actually intended to provoke Mali into conflict with the aim of mobilising popular support for his regime. According to him "an official—and reliable—Malian source" had reported that mobilisation documents dating to 19 December were found on the bodies of fallen Burkinabé soldiers during the ensuing war.
War
At dawn on 25 December 1985,
The Burkinabé Government in Ouagadougou received word of hostilities at about 13:00 and immediately issued mobilisation orders. Various security measures were also imposed across the country, including nighttime blackouts. Burkinabé forces regrouped in the Dionouga area to counter-attack. which was also joined by some armed Committees for the Defense of the Revolution and militia units. Mali mitigated Burkinabé counterattacks by conducting sorties with its MiG-21s, and Burkina Faso attempted to counter them by launching its sole MiG-17, though no air-to-air engagements occurred. There were also rumours that Burkinabé exiles such as Lona Charles Ouattara were aiding the Malians. Traoré then held a postwar conference with the leaders of the armed forces at the National Police School. As a result of the tank incident, it was decided at the meeting to demote Sangaré It was withdrawn before the end of January 1986. One Ivorian helicopter crashed while overseeing the ceasefire. In March an Economic Community of West Africa summit was held in Ouagadougou and attended by both Sankara and Traoré. As a sign of reconciliation, the participants elected another Malian to replace the outgoing secretary general of the organisation. Mali and Burkina Faso reestablished formal diplomatic relations in June. and the court issued a ruling on the matter by a five-member panel of judges on 22 December 1986. The court split the disputed territory among the parties; Mali received the more-densely populated western portion and Burkina Faso the eastern section centered on the Béli.