23 September 2017 – Citing the continuing deterioration of the security situation in the sub-Saharan Sahel, regional leaders at the General Assembly’s annual general debate today called on the United Nations to provide sufficient resources to the regional G5 Sahel joint force to combat the scourge.
“Multifaceted support from the international community and our Organization is indispensable,” Chadian Foreign Minister Hissein Brahim Taha, Minister for Foreign Affairs said.
In June the UN Security Council endorsed the formation the G5 Sahel joint force, comprising Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger, to combat terrorism and transnational organized crime in the restive region.
Beyond attacks perpetrated by the Nigerian Boko Haram movement, Mr. Taha also highlighted a host of other regional concerns including climate change and the drying up of Lake Chad upon which 50 million people depend for their livelihoods, all of which contribute to the massive migration crisis.
Ibrahim Yacoubou, Minister for Foreign Affairs, Cooperation, African Integration and Nigeriens Abroad of the Republic of Niger, addresses the general debate of the General Assembly’s seventy-second session. UN Photo/Cia Pak
Niger voiced its concern at the lack of international support for the G5 Sahel force. “What is at stake in the Sahel is a battle not only for regional peace and security but also for international peace and security,” Foreign Minister Ibrahim Yacoubou told the Assembly.
“Not to aid the G5 Sahel and to allow the situation in Mali to degenerate further into implosion would be a mistake that Member States should not commit,” he said.
As the three major threats facing Niger, he cited the situation in Libya where terrorists and arms traffickers have free rein, the battle against Boko Haram in the Lake Chad area, and the fight against terrorists and arms traffickers in northern Mali.
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