Operation Persil

Opération Persil was a 1960 covert operation by the French government aimed at destabilising the post-independence government of Guinea due to Guinean president Ahmed Sékou Touré's rejection of the French Community and the CFA franc, and his successful campaign for Guinean independence. The operation involved several senior figures within the French government, notably Jacques Foccart, Charles de Gaulle’s chief adviser on African affairs. The plan sought to undermine Touré’s government through economic sabotage and the support of armed opposition groups.

The operation, named after the detergent brand Persil, was modeled after the Nazi Operation Bernhard and involved the French intelligence agency Service de Documentation Extérieure et de Contre-Espionnage (SDECE) producing large quantities of counterfeit Guinean francs to flood Guinea’s economy and trigger hyperinflation. Another phase of the operation aimed to arm and organize exiled Guinean diaspora and dissidents into paramilitary groups to cause internal unrest. However, the plan quickly unraveled after leaks and international scrutiny. On 10 May 1960, Senegalese authorities intercepted a French-organized weapons shipment bound for Guinea, exposing the operation and prompting a diplomatic scandal.[1]

The failure of Opération Persil further deteriorated relations between France and Guinea, reinforcing Touré’s distrust of France and bolstering his campaign to eliminate political dissidents. In the following years, Guinea severed all diplomatic ties with France, and aligned itself with socialist and non-aligned states such as Russia and China.