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human
ELI5: French military activity in Africa

The French army is currently active in Mali, and in the past it has been involved in other conflicts. Why? What are the benefits from the French in doing so? 

EDIT: I'm not asking about Mali specifically, but about France's military activity in Africa. I know that they have a continuous presence in several former colonies, but to what end? Does France get resources from these countries? Is it to protect French nationals who live there? Is it because France doesn't want to let go of its past as one of the world's colonial empires? Does France feel responsible for these countries becaused they messed them up in the first place?
gpt
France is in Mali to deliver a long-lasting defeat of Islamists (and the separatists though it can't say it out loud to offend some people's sensitivities to any group wanting "independence") to allow Mali to rebuild its institutions. France is interested in Mali because many, many Malians live in France, it is a former colony, a few thousand Frenchmen live in Mali, and it neighbors another former colony in Niger that provides its uranium, so they don't want to risk this Islamism spreading. 

The French population has been wanting to disentangle themselves from Africa for a couple generations but they get drawn back in every couple of years because there are so many weak states among their former colonies and they feel pressured to intervene to prevent bad outcomes.