US pledges $45m more to fight mounting jihadist conflict in West Africa

US secretary of state Antony Blinken on Tuesday pledged $45m in extra funds to help fight conflict and stabilise coastal West Africa, where insecurity linked to jihadist insurgencies has risen in recent years.

Blinken is on the second stop of a four-country tour of Africa taking him to Cape Verde, Ivory Coast, Nigeria and Angola from January 21 to 26 for talks on US-African partnerships over trade, climate, infrastructure, health, security and other issues. It follows the Washington summit with African leaders in December 2022.

Security challenges in West Africa, the fallout of a coup in Niger in 2023 and Russia’s rising regional influence are among topics. Blinken arrived in Ivory Coast’s financial capital, Abidjan, on Monday night and met President Alassane Ouattara on Tuesday morning, after which he announced the extra financing at a joint media briefing.

Ivory Coast is one of several coastal West African countries affected in recent years by Islamist insurgencies that took root in Mali in 2012 and spread across the Sahel region despite costly, internationally backed military efforts to contain it.

“We spent a lot of time discussing mutual security challenges,” Blinken said. “We appreciate Ivory Coast’s leadership in the fight against extremism and violence.”

The funding will supplement $300m the US has already invested in coastal West Africa over the past two years.

“We have increased military training by 15 times and are investing in civil protection in Ivory Coast,” said Blinken.

Ouattara said security in the region remains a challenge. “That is why we do appreciate the US for their support in the area of intelligence and the fight against terrorism,” he said.

The US faced a setback in its fight against militants in the Sahel when military officers toppled Niger’s Mohamed Bazoum, a key ally, in July 2023.

The coup in Niger was one of a series of military takeovers or power-grab attempts that occurred in West and Central Africa over the past three years.

The instability has raised concern, particularly as juntas have cut ties with traditional Western allies such as the EU and France, which withdrew thousands of troops from the Sahel in 2023.

Blinken met Akinwumi Adesina, president of the African Development Bank, at a subregional rice research institute in the afternoon. He is scheduled to fly to Nigeria in the evening.