The Sahel region in Africa: a belt up to 1,000 km wide that spans 5,400 km from the Atlantic Ocean to the Red Sea
WASHINGTON, March 11 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The United States has created a special envoy position to counter rising violence in Africa’s Sahel region, a State Department spokesman said.
Peter Pham, started his new role last week as envoy to the Sahel, the spokesman said.
He has been serving as U.S. Special Envoy for the Great Lakes Region of Africa since November 2018.
“Sahel is one of the places where the situation is getting worse in the continent,” the spokesman said.
Security has progressively worsened in the Sahel, an arid region of West Africa, just below the Sahara desert, with militants linked to al Qaeda and Islamic State strengthening their foothold across the region, making large swathes of territory ungovernable and stoking ethnic violence.
Former colonial power France intervened in 2013 to drive back militants who had seized northern Mali the previous year. Fighters have since regrouped and spread. Over the past year, militants have stepped up attacks in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger.
Particularly worrying for Europeans has been possible U.S. troop cuts. The Pentagon is considering withdrawing the personnel as part of a global troop review meant to free up more resources to address challenges from China’s military, after nearly two decades of prioritizing counter-terrorism operations around the world.
Such a potential move has alarmed France, which relies on U.S. intelligence and logistics for its 4,500-strong mission in the Sahel. The deaths of 13 French soldiers in a helicopter crash during a combat mission in Mali in November increased France’s determination to secure more support in the zone.
The U.S. currently has around 6,000 military personnel in Africa. Although some experts say a repositioning of forces is overdue, many US officials share French concerns about relieving pressure on militants in Africa.
State Department’s latest counter terrorism report, which was published in November 2019, said attacks by militant groups in the region have been on the rise.
“In the Sahel, terrorist groups – including affiliates and adherents of al-Qaeda and ISIS as well as non-aligned groups – have expanded their operations in north and central Mali and the Tri-Border Region of Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger,” the report said.
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in November warned that there was growing concern over Daesh in West Africa and called on the global coalition against Daesh to focus on Sahel. — NNN-AGENCIES
