By RFIPalled on 26-09-2018Modified on 26-09-2018 at 22:53

A high-level meeting on the G5 Sahel is being held this Wednesday, September 26 in New York, on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. One year after the creation of this joint force, which includes 5,000 Mauritanian, Malian, Burkinabe, Nigerian and Chadian contingents, the G5 is still in its infancy, while recent weeks have seen a sharp rise in violence in the region.

Eight Burkinabe soldiers were killed on Wednesday morning in a mine explosion as they traveled to the northeastern Soum, a region in the hands of the jihadist group Ansarul Islam. A few days earlier, three men were abducted in the same area.

Last week, an Italian priest was kidnapped in southwestern Niger, while in northern Mali, Kidal notables and Timbuktu officers were murdered in the middle of the city.

The threat is real, the absolute urgency and yet the G5 still fails to be operational. For the anniversary of his first year, last July, it was his headquarters in Sévaré, central Mali, which was blown by a spectacular jihadist attack. What to cut the wings of a force supposed to rise in power. Heads have fallen. At the command of the force, the Malian general Didier Dacko was replaced by the Mauritanian general Hanena ould Sidi .

Last December, French President Emmanuel Macron had promised results, as early as the first half of 2018 but six joint operations later, the force has still not crossed the line with terrorists.

►Alpha Barry, Burkinabe MAE: "Go to the operational phase" of the G5 Sahel

One of the first challenges of G5 Sahel remains that of its financing . The force has still not reached the full budget for the first year of operation and the G5 is still looking for a sustainable funding mechanism as explained by Nicolas Desgrais, PhD student at the University of Kent and specialist in military cooperation in the Sahel.

There is a conference in Brussels last February that has raised 414 million euros, but disbursements are struggling to reach the force. Firstly because of the multiplicity of different donors: there are international organizations like the European Union, there are countries, so a multiplicity of actors with different channels.

Nicolas Desgrais, specialist in military cooperation in the Sahel

26-09-2018 - By Gaëlle Laleix

G5 Sahel countries © JayCoop / CC BY-SA 4.0

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