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Sahel Summit Agrees Need to Intensify Campaign Against Jihadists

Reuters

   NOUAKCHOTT, MAURITANIA - International and regional powers agreed at
   talks on Tuesday to intensify a military campaign against Islamist
   militants in the West African Sahel region, with French President
   Emmanuel Macron saying victory over the jihadists was within grasp.

   Militant attacks in the Sahel have increased over the last two years,
   especially in the tri-border region of Niger, Burkina Faso and Mali
   known asLiptako-Gourma, where local authorities have been overrun.

   Mauritania hosted a meeting of the leaders of five Sahel nations plus
   France and Spain to plot future strategy in the scrubland south of the
   Sahara where since 2013 thousands of French troops have been helping
   countries counter insurgencies.

   "The heads of state stressed the need to intensify the fight on all
   fronts by national and international forces against terrorist groups,"
   the final communique said.

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