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US Pledges $60M for Sahel Counterterror Force

by VOA News

   The United States has pledged up to $60 million to support
   counterterrorism efforts by nations in Africa's Sahel region.

   [1]The funding, announced Monday by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson,
   will support the Group of Five Sahel Joint Task Force, a military unit
   set up by Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger earlier this
   year.

   "Defeating terrorism depends on making sure terrorist organization
   cannot have safe havens on any continent," Tillerson said. "This money
   will boslter our regional partners in their fight to ensure security
   and stability in the face of ISIS and affiliated groups and other
   terrorist networks."

   Earlier this month, fighters affiliated with Islamic State ambushed a
   team of U.S. and Nigerien troops in southwestern Niger. Four U.S.
   soldiers were killed and two others wounded in the attack.

   Military officials have said the team was in the area to conduct
   surveillance on a terrorist leader.

   Along with Islamic State, several al-Qaida-linked groups operate in the
   Sahel region, including al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and
   Nigeria-based Boko Haram.

   Chad and Niger have battled Boko Haram incursions for the past three
   years, while Mali saw jihadist groups take over the northern half of
   the country in 2012.

References

   1. https://www.state.gov/secretary/remarks/2017/10