Mauritania’s foreign minister said Friday the five-nation African force fighting terrorism in the Sahel is facing a growing security threat sweeping the region that is not only local but a global problem that demands an international response.
Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, whose country holds the presidency of the G5 Sahel force, told the U.N. Security Council the security situation ”is deteriorating visibly and with rare constancy” as a result of a ”diabolical alliance of terrorist and drug trafficking groups,” with violence spreading every day to new territories. […]
Leaders of Mauritania, Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali and Niger launched the joint force in 2017 with support from the United Nations, the African Union and the European Union. France has pushed for the Security Council to authorize the G5 under Chapter 7 of the U.N. Charter, which is militarily enforceable, and finance its operation — an appeal reiterated Friday by the Mauritanian minister.
But the United States has opposed council authorization, and so far the U.N. has only been providing operational and logistical support through its peacekeeping mission in Mali. […]
The council reaffirmed the importance of MINUSMA’s support to the force and ”took note” of the U.N. assessment, but it made no decision on how future support will be provided and didn’t mention the financing of the G5 operation. Läs referat från säkerhetsrådets möte