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UN chief urges funding for Sahel states
KINSHASA, Sept 3, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – United Nations chief Antonio Guterres
on Tuesday suggested the UN help fund the fight against jihadism in the
Sahel, warning “we are not winning the war against terrorism” in the frail
region.
“I am in favour of funding by the United Nations, with obligatory
contributions for the G5 Sahel force,” Guterres said in an interview with
Radio France Internationale (RFI).
“I totally believe we are not winning the war against terrorism in the
Sahel and that the operation should be strengthened.”
Islamist rebels have launched an insurgency on the Sahara’s southern rim,
rocking the impoverished states of Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali and Niger.
Those countries, along with Mauritania, have teamed up in a French-backed
initiative, the G5 Sahel, to mount a 5,000-man anti-terror force.
But the scheme is struggling in the face of poor equipment, training and
chronic lack of funds.
Guterres said he expected countries to make “concrete proposals” to the
international community during a forthcoming West African meeting in
Ouagadougou.
Guterres, who made the comments on Monday on a visit to the Democratic
Republic of Congo, said the “threat of terrorism has to be seen on a
continental scale.”
He described the DRC as a linchpin for stability, and noted the country’s
long struggle with an Islamist-rooted militia, the Allied Democratic Forces
(ADF), in its east.
The ADF, originally from western Uganda, is connected to other African
jihadists, Guterres maintained.
“In my opinion the ADF today is part of a network that starts in Libya and
stretches to the Sahel, to the Lake Chad region, and which is present in
Mozambique,” he said.
He said he did not know whether there was a “formal link” between the ADF
and the so-called Islamic State — which has claimed several attacks in
eastern DRC — but pointed to what he called “real links” between the ADF and
Mozambique militants.
The UN has some 16,000 troops in the DRC in its MONUSCO peacekeeping
mission, one of the world’s largest. Its mandate is due to expire on December
31.
“Abandoning the DRC would be suicidal, not just for the Congolese but also
for the international community,” Guterres warned.
BSS/AFP/FI/ 1620 hrs