Leaders meet over Sahel jihadism

A summit of five nations that have joined forces to fight jihadism in the Sahel got under way on Tuesday, a day after another terror attack in the region claimed 14 lives.

Leaders of the G5 Sahel Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger gathered in the Burkinabe capital of Ouagadougou.

Their one-day meeting aims to beef up co-ordination in the war on jihadists, who have killed hundreds of civilians and inflicted crippling economic damage.

On the eve of the summit, 14 civilians were killed by insurgents in a predawn attack at Kain in northern Burkina Faso near the Mali border, the military said. It said it carried out retaliatory air strikes and land operations in three northern provinces, “neutralising” 146 fighters, a claim that could not be independently confirmed.

“Burkina Faso, the host of this summit, which used to be among the most peaceful countries in the world ... is today the victim of attacks by terrorists with regressive aims,” said former Burundian president Pierre Buyoya, the AU’s representative at the summit.

THEIR ONE-DAY MEETING AIMS TO BEEF UP CO-ORDINATION IN THE WAR ON JIHADISTS WHO HAVE KILLED CIVILIANS

“The AU expresses its solidarity and compassion for the Burkinabe government and people and urges them to mobilise to stand together against the destabilising actions of the terrorist groups.

“It encourages them to close off any gaps in which the enemy can flourish,” he said.

Tight security was in place on Tuesday. A key highway linking the airport and the conference venue was closed to traffic not involved in the summit. Troops were deployed at regular intervals.

The Islamist revolt in the Sahel took off after chaos engulfed Libya in 2011. Jihadist attacks erupted in northern Mali as Boko Haram arose in Nigeria.

As the toll spiked, a Frenchbacked scheme was launched in 2015 with the goal of deploying a 5,000-man joint force among five nations in the front line.

But lack of funding and training, as well as poor equipment, have greatly undermined the initiative, and last June the force’s headquarters in Mali were hit in a devastating suicide attack claimed by an al-Qaedalinked group.

The G5’s problems have given rise to long periods of inactivity, although on Sunday, its commander Gen Hanena Ould Sidi said the force had carried out three operations since January 15.