$60 million from U.S. to support G5 Sahel Joint Force’s counterterrorism efforts.

The United States has pledged up to $60 million to support the G5 Sahel Joint Force’s counterterrorism efforts. This money will bolster our regional partners in their fight to ensure security and stability in the face of ISIS and affiliated groups and other terrorist networks. This is a fight we must win, and these funds will play a key role in achieving that mission.

The accelerating pace of the development of the Joint Force made up of the five countries of the G5 Sahel (Mauritania, Mali, Niger, Chad and Burkina Faso) is an important driver for the Liaison Officers’ Course which is delivered three times a year by the European Training Union in Mali. (Source Mil.be)

The G5 Sahel Force, which consists of Chad, Burkina Faso, Mauritania, Mali and Niger, was officially launched in July 2017, to fight terrorism in the sub-region.

This announcement followed the creation of the Liptako Gourma securitisation force by Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger in late January to combat instability in this border region. This force has now been integrated into the G5 Sahel Joint Force (Force conjointe du G5 Sahel, or FC-G5S).

The FC-G5S is composed of 5 000 troops, mainly military, from member states. They will be deployed along the Mali–Mauritania border; the Liptako Gourma, which is the cross-border region between Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger; and the Niger–Chad border.

he FC-G5S illustrates the collective ambition of its members to address the growing insecurity in the Sahel despite the presence of the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) and France’s Operation Barkhane, which is deployed across the G5 states. These forces have been hampered by an inadequate mandate to fight terrorism and limited capabilities in an extensive area with little state control, respectively. The new force, by focusing on terrorism and transnational crime in the border regions, is supposed to fill these gaps.