West African leaders have pledged $1 billion to combat the spiraling threat of Islamist militancy in the region, the head of the regional ECOWAS bloc has said.
Groups with links to al Qaeda and Islamic State have strengthened their foothold across the arid Sahel region this year, making large swathes of territory ungovernable and stoking local ethnic violence, especially in Mali and Burkina Faso.
The fifteen members of the West African bloc and the presidents of Mauritania and Chad had gathered for an extraordinary summit in Burkina Faso’s capital, Ouagadougou, to address the growing insecurity.
ECOWAS President Mahamadou Issoufou said the commission was pledging $1 billion to finance the joint forces and intelligence gathering to counter the rising violence and fight jihadists that have led to three million people being displaced and a 60 percent increase this year in the number of people facing food insecurity.
The ECOWAS commission also called on the United Nations to strengthen its MINUSMA peacekeeping mission, which has been based in Mali since 2013.
In July, the U.N. said Islamist attacks were spreading so fast in West Africa that the region should consider bolstering its response beyond current military efforts.
Addressing the media Issoufou said the Sahel region and Lake Chad expected a bigger contribution in the fight against radical Islamists from the international community which he said caused the Libyan crisis that was putting pressure on the region.
