Macron to meet West African leaders on new anti-terror force

BAMAKO, Mali: France’s president meets Sunday in Mali with heads of state from five nations across Africa’s vast Sahel region to support a new 5,000-strong multinational force meant to counter a growing threat from extremists who have targeted tourist resorts and other high-profile areas.

The recently elected President Emmanuel Macron’s second visit to Mali in a month and a half emphasizes France’s interest in countering Al-Qaeda-linked groups and other militants who have alarmed the international community with deadly attacks in countries once considered relatively safe.

In mid-June, the UN Security Council unanimously approved a resolution welcoming the deployment of the new force with troops contributed by Mali, Burkina Faso, Mauritania, Niger and Chad. The approval came days after at least five people were killed in an attack on a Mali resort popular with foreigners, with the recently merged extremist group Nusrat Al-Islam wal Muslimeen claiming responsibility.

A major goal at Sunday’s meeting is finding money to support the new force, which will operate in the region along with a 12,000-strong UN peacekeeping mission in Mali, which has become the deadliest in the world, and France’s own 5,000-strong Barkhane military operation, its largest overseas mission. The new force is meant to be operational in the next few months.

If financing for the G-5 Sahel force is left to the five regional countries that will not bode well, said Sidi Ali Bagna, the youth leader for the G-5 in Mali.

France had sought some form of UN financing, but the US objected. So far, the EU has pledged €50 million ($57 million). The overall cost for the force is not yet known.