The United States has almost doubled its pledge in financial support to the G5 Sahel, a West African force that began deploying last year to fight a surge in Islamist militant attacks.
The initial pledge by the US was $60 million made in October 2017 but in the revised pledge, the assistance will total $111 million. According to US Africa Command the additional amount is set to meet the needs and strengthen capabilities of the force to fight terrorism in the region. The bolstered funding will help increase the operations of the forces which was previously limited due to slow disbursement of funds.
The 5,000-strong regional force started last year to mobilize troops from member nations who include Niger, Mali, Chad, Burkina Faso, and Mauritania to counter militants linked to al-Qaeda and Islamic State in the Sahel, a semiarid region, stretching across Africa along the southern end of the Sahara.
