West African leaders have pledged $1 billion to fight the problem of jihadist violence in the region, at a summit in Burkina Faso, reported Reuters.
The announcement was made at the end of the Economic Community Summit of West African States (ECOWAS) in Ouagadougou, which was attended by the fifteen members of the West African bloc and the presidents of Mauritania and Chad.
ECOWAS Commission President Jean-Claude Kassi Brou said the commission had decided to contribute financially and join efforts in the fight against terrorism by pledging $1 billion.
The amount will be paid into a common fund and will be funded from 2020 to 2024. It would be used to help reinforce the military operations of the countries involved and those of the joint military operations in the region. Full details of the plan would be presented in the next ECOWAS summit to be held in December this year.
Notably, some militant groups with links to al Qaeda and Islamic State have strengthened their foothold across the arid Sahel region this year, making a large part of territory ungovernable and adding fuel to ethnic violence across the region, especially in Mali and Burkina Faso.
The fight against the increasing jihadist violence in the region has so far been hampered by a lack of funds. A joint task force, the G5 Sahel, was created in 2014 to tackle the problem, backed by former colonial power France.
The multinational military force also pulled in troops from Mali, Niger, Chad, Burkina Faso, and Mauritania in July 2017 to drive back the armed groups. But finance constraints, and lack of training and equipment limited their effectiveness and their numbers.
The situation in Burkina Faso has deteriorated in recent weeks. Last week, around 29 people were killed in separate attacks in the troubled central-northern region. In August, 24 soldiers were killed in an attack, one of the heaviest losses yet in the nation’s fight against Islamist militants.
