'G5 Sahel' chief appeals for support ahead of first mission

The commander of an African coalition force preparing to fight jihadists in the troubled Sahel region appealed today for political support.
The so-called "G5 Sahel" -- made up of Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger -- is due to launch its first operation at the end of October but is still lacking in funding.
Today, UN Security Council ambassadors visited the command headquarters in the central Malian town of Sevare for talks on the security crisis in the region.
"We are first of all waiting for fundamental political support," from the Security Council, force commander and Malian general Didier Dacko said. But he said the force is also in need of equipment and training backing.

"We had planned to reach maximum operational capacity in the next few months, in 2018, and at the rate things are going, we think it's achievable," Dacko added, providing there is necessary support.
The estimated budget for the force's first year of operations is estimated at 423 million euros (USD 499 million), but so far only 108 million euros have been raised.

The vast Sahel region has turned into a hotbed of violent extremism and lawlessness since chaos engulfed Libya in 2011, the Islamist takeover of northern Mali in 2012 and the rise of Boko Haram in northern Nigeria.
A fresh attack in Niger's restive southwest, which borders Mali, killed 13 paramilitary police yesterday, just weeks after a deadly ambush on a joint US-Niger patrol.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned last week that the Sahel region was descending into all-out violence and said the world body must help the region confront the threat from Islamist militants.
He put forward four options to back the force, including setting up a UN support office in the Sahel and sharing resources from the 13,000-strong peacekeeping mission in Mali.
A UN meeting on support for the force is scheduled for October 30, as well as a donor conference in Brussels in December.
On Friday, Mali's parliament agreed a three-month extension of the state of emergency because of the "continuing threat" of armed groups.

Mali has become particularly volatile since 2012 when jihadist groups captured the entire north of the country.
Entire zones still escape the control of Malian and foreign forces, despite a military intervention by France in 2013.