NOUAKCHOTT: The European Union and France announced 1.3 billion euros ($1.5 billion) in development funding aimed at preventing terrorism in African Sahel countries, which are struggling with militancy and lawlessness along the Sahara’s southern rim.
The EU has pledged 800 million euros, its International Cooperation and Development Commissioner Neven Mimica told a conference in the Mauritanian capital, which hosts a fledgeling African regional force fighting militants, called the G5 Sahel.
France “will invest 500 million euros to benefit the priorities” of the G5 Sahel, added French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian.