THE UNITED NATIONS, United States: UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called Tuesday for Sahel nations to put aside their differences to tackle mounting attacks by armed groups in a region beset by humanitarian crisis.
Attacks by Islamist militants and other armed groups are raging across the politically divided Sahel region, which has seen a number of coups in recent years, with juntas withdrawing from the regional ECOWAS bloc.
“I’m aware of the serious political differences that exist in the region,” Guterres told the UN Security Council in a video message.
“But it is absolutely essential that, despite these differences, we build a platform of cooperation among intelligence and security services of the countries of ECOWAS, the AES (Alliance of Sahel States), Mauritania, Chad and Algeria, to allow for coordinated action against terrorism.”
Terrorists in Africa’s Sahel region have doubled the scope of their attacks since 2019 and now operate in an area twice the size of Spain, leading to 77,000 deaths, according to an AFP analysis of data collected by ACLED, an independent global monitor of conflict.
