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Chad calls for world support as Sahel summit begins

By Ali Aba KAYA with Amaury HAUCHARD in Bamako
Chad The Sahel region has been struggling to battle a grinding jihadist insurgency.  By Boureima HAMA AFPFile
FEB 15, 2021 LISTEN
The Sahel region has been struggling to battle a grinding jihadist insurgency. By Boureima HAMA (AFP/File)

Chad on Monday called for international support to help the beleaguered Sahel as five nations and ally France began a summit on the future of their anti-jihadist campaign.

Leaders of the "G5 Sahel" -- Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger -- are attending a two-day summit in the Chadian capital N'Djamena with French President Emmanuel Macron joining in by videolink.

Opening the meeting, Chadian President Idriss Deby Itno said the vast Sahel was struggling with "poverty, which is fertile ground for terrorism."

He said it was time for the international community to "urgently" step up funds for development, to help cut off this source of recruitment for jihadists.

The meeting comes a year after France boosted its Sahel deployment, seeking to wrench back momentum in the brutal, long-running battle.

But despite touted military successes, jihadists remain in control of vast swathes of territory and attacks are unrelenting.

Map showing zones of influence by armed groups in the Sahel and regional military bases.  By  AFP Map showing zones of influence by armed groups in the Sahel and regional military bases. By (AFP)

Just hours before the summit opened, Malian sources said two troops had been killed by a highway bomb in central Mali.

The deaths bring the number of Malian, UN and French troop losses to 29 since the start of the year, according to an AFP tally.

Islamist fighters in the Sahel first emerged in northern Mali in 2012, during a rebellion by ethnic Touareg separatists which was later overtaken by the jihadists.

France intervened to rout the insurgents, but the jihadists scattered, taking their campaign into the ethnic powder keg of central Mali and then into Burkina Faso and Niger.

Thousands of soldiers and civilians have been killed, according to the UN, while more than two million people have fled their homes.

The crushing toll has fuelled perceptions that the jihadists cannot be defeated by military means alone.

The five G5 Sahel countries have vowed to create a joint anti-jihadist force of 5,000 men - but funding, equipment, training and coordination are major obstacles.  By MICHELE CATTANI AFPFile The five G5 Sahel countries have vowed to create a joint anti-jihadist force of 5,000 men - but funding, equipment, training and coordination are major obstacles. By MICHELE CATTANI (AFP/File)

Jean-Herve Jezequel, Sahel director for the International Crisis Group think tank, told AFP that conventional military engagement had failed to deliver a knockout blow.

The jihadists "are capable of turning their backs, bypassing the system, and continuing," he said.

Last year, France upped its Barkhane mission in the Sahel from 4,500 troops to 5,100 -- a move that precipitated a string of apparent military successes.

French forces killed the leader of the notorious Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), Abdelmalek Droukdel, as well as a military chief of the Al-Qaeda-affiliated Group to Support Islam and Muslims (GSIM).

Troop drawdown?

But attacks in December and January have brought the number of French combat deaths in Mali to 50, prompting soul-searching at home about Barkhane's cost and usefulness.

Macron last month opened the door to a drawdown, suggesting France may "adjust" its military commitment.

To lighten the load, France is hoping for more military support from its European partners through the Takuba Task Force which assists Mali in its fight against jihadists.

An armed Reaper drone is checked before takeoff at a French base in Niger, part of France's Barkhane anti-jihadist force.  By Daphn BENOIT AFP An armed Reaper drone is checked before takeoff at a French base in Niger, part of France's Barkhane anti-jihadist force. By Daphné BENOIT (AFP)

The Sahel armies, for their part, are unable to pick up the slack.

In 2017, the five countries initiated a planned 5,000-man pooled force, but it remains hobbled by lack of funds, poor equipment and inadequate training.

Chad, which reputedly has the best armed forces among the five, promised a year ago to send a battalion to the "three border" flashpoint where the frontiers of Mali, Niger and Burkina converge. The deployment has still not happened.

While acknowledging the alliance's weak points, Chad's Deby on Monday "urged all member states to get on with making the joint G5 Sahel force self-sufficient, by giving it its own financial and logistical resources".

Paris also hopes last year's successes can strengthen political reform in the Sahel states, where weak governance has fuelled frustration and instability.

"The socio-economic situation in our countries isn't gleaming... we're appealing urgently to all our partners to give us the additional resources they promised," Deby said, underlining "debt cancellation" as a priority for regional governments.

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