Five African countries have launched a new multinational force to fight armed groups in the Sahel region, which France’s President Emmanuel Macron told a summit in Mali should be fully operational “in a matter of weeks”.
The new regional anti-terror force is set to include as many as five thousand soldiers, with one battalion from each of the so-called G-five Sahel countries including Mali, Mauritania, Burkina Faso, Niger and Chad.
France’s president, in a regional summit with the G5-Sahel leaders in the Malian capital, Bamako, said his country would contribute nine million dollars to the new force this year. He also mentioned a contribution of seventy vehicles, without saying whether that was included in the sum.
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