20 October 2017•Update: 20 October 2017
By Mohamed al-Bakay
NOUAKCHOTT, Mauritania
A delegation from the UN Security Council visited Nouakchott on Friday to discuss the region’s ongoing fight against terrorism with Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz.
The meeting between Ould Abdel Aziz and the delegation focused largely on the G5 Sahel Joint Force, which is tasked with fighting terrorism, extremism and organized crime.
The G5 force was officially launched in July of this year -- with the UNSC’s blessing -- by five Mauritania, Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso and Chad.
Earlier this week, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called on the Security Council to muster more international support for the joint force.
Headquartered in Mali, the force currently boasts some 5,000 troops drawn from the G5’s five member states.
Several extremist groups are reportedly active in Africa’s Sahel region -- including Daesh, Al-Qaeda and Boko Haram -- which occasionally carry out attacks on military and civilian targets.
This is especially the case in Mali, where militants overran much of the country in 2012 before being expelled following the intervention of French military forces.
Africa’s Sahel region stretches across the south-central latitudes of North Africa between the Atlantic Ocean and the Red Sea.
