France and G5 nations step up jihadist fight

France and nations from West Africa’s G5 security alliance have agreed to step up military co-operation to fight the jihadist insurgency in the Sahel region. 

Meeting at a conference in the French city of Pau, French President Emmanuel Macron hosted the heads of Niger, Mali, Burkina Faso, Chad and Mauritania. There it was agreed that the nations’ security forces would operate under a joint command structure: Coalition for the Sahel.

France further pledged to send an additional 220 troops to the region to supplement the 4,500 already posted there. Despite the presence of French forces, jihadist attacks have been on the increase, with last year seeing the highest death toll since 2012. 

The leaders also urged the US to maintain its support for the fight, amid reports that it might be decreasing its military presence in Africa. The US currently operates two drone bases in Niger. Mr Macron said that he would try to persuade President Donald Trump to stay as “if the Americans decided to leave Africa, this would be very bad news for us".

The security crisis in the region started in 2012, when an alliance of separatist and Islamist militants took over northern Mali, triggering a French military intervention to oust them. A peace deal was signed in 2015 but never fully implemented, allowing groups linked to al-Qaeda and Islamic State to expand across central Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger.

Photo credit: AFP | Pool | Guillaume Horcajuelo