How EU supports Sahel-Sahara countries confront terrorism

Ahmed Adel

The European Union continues to support and lend a hand to stifle radical organizations and groups in the Sahel-Sahara region.

During a video conference with the leaders of Mali, Mauritania, Chad, Niger and Burkina Faso on Sunday, May 3, the EU allocated €194 million to Sahel countries to strengthen their security forces and pledged to study the request to cancel African debt.

The video conference was attended by European Council President Charles Michel, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, EU High Representative Josep Borell, and Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Cheikh el-Ghazouani, as well as the heads of state or government of the G5 Sahel countries, in addition to the deputy secretary-general of the United Nations and the chairperson of the African Union Commission.

“We announced an additional €194 million to strengthen the security and internal defense forces, accelerate the state’s presence, and secure basic services in the deprived areas,” Borrell said on his Twitter account on Monday, May 4.

For his part, Michel reaffirmed the EU’s commitment to enhance security within the G5 Sahel countries through concrete measures to help them reduce threats at the regional and international levels, in close cooperation with the UN.

The leaders expressed their deep concern about the spread of terrorism and the deterioration of the security and humanitarian situation in the Sahel and Sahara region. They fear that the crisis will seriously affect the countries of the Sahel and Lake Chad region and extend to neighboring countries and even coastal states on the Gulf of Guinea.

Germany agrees to expand Sahel mission

Believing in its significant role in West Africa, the German Federal Cabinet agreed on Wednesday, May 6 to expand the mission of German forces in Mali, which is threatened by terrorist groups and organized crime, approving the extension and amendment of the German army’s participation in the EU mission training Malian forces.

The Cabinet approved an increase in the maximum number of soldiers participating in the mission from 350 to 450 soldiers. It is also planned to send additional advisors, establish and operate a training center in central Mali, and develop the Gazelle mission in which German combat swimmers train special forces in Niger.

The German government also intends to raise the military capabilities of the local armed forces in the Sahel region, and the Cabinet agreed to extend the participation of German forces in the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) without changes in its content, with the maximum participation rate remaining at 1,100 soldiers.

These decisions must be approved by the German parliament in order to take effect, and it is expected that they will be ratified in the coming weeks.

“There is a danger of the spread of terrorism and organized crime in this region, and this could destabilize the whole of West Africa,” deputy government spokeswoman Ulrike Demmer told a news conference.

Demmer said that the security situation in Mali and other Sahel countries such as Niger and Burkina Faso was worrisome, stressing that armed missions in these countries must fight “jihadists and militias.”

Security flaw and corona crisis

Africa’s Sahel and Sahara countries are living in a state of flawed and fragile security, as the region has fluid borders that terrorist organizations have exploited to ease the transnational movement of its elements from some countries to neighboring countries, including Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Ivory Coast, the Gambia, Ghana, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Togo and Mozambique.

The terrorist organizations in the region are also working to exploit the Covid-19 corona virus pandemic to carry out terrorist operations against civilians and the military, while local security forces are busy with enforcing curfews and preventing gatherings of citizens in the hope of eliminating the corona virus.

In April 2019, Abou Walid al-Sahraoui, who led a Boko Haram separatist group in the Sahel and Sahara region since 2016, received the blessing of late ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who was killed in October 2019, and declared the establishment of the Islamic State of West Africa.