Merkel promises aid to jihadist-hit Burkina Faso
http://www.hrlnews.com/2019/05/merkel-promises-aid-to-jihadist-hit.html
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has promised aid to strengthen
security in jihadist-hit Burkina Faso. Merkel, who also attended a G5
meeting of Sahel country leaders in Ouagadougou, is due in Mali and
Niger.
“We talked about the deteriorating security situation and we want to
be on the side of Burkina Faso, especially in terms of cooperation on
security,” Merkel told reporters after a meeting with Burkina Faso
President Roch Marc Christian Kabore.
“This is necessary because in the east and north of the country there
is a situation where children cannot go to school, where populations
seem to live in insecurity,” she said.
“We need to end these problems as quickly as possible,” she added.
President Kabore said the aid would help Burkina Faso to tackle the
closure of schools due to jihadist attacks which have seen teachers
forced to flee.
“Germany has announced 46 million euros ($51 million) in aid which
should enable us to take better charge of the security issue in the
north and east and take action that will strengthen the resilience of
these populations,” he said.
The presidents of Mali, Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, Mauritania, Mohamed
Ould Abdel Aziz, Niger, Mahamadou Issoufou and Chad, Idriss Deby Itno
were also in Ouagadougou to attend the G5 meeting.
The countries are bound in a French-backed alliance, called the G5 Sahel, to fight jihadism on the southern rim of the Sahara.
After the meeting ended, Merkel said Europe shared responsibility for dealing with the threat.
“It is not only the responsibility of these five states but it is a
responsibility that concerns Europe too, because if chaos takes over —
which we want to avoid at all costs — it also has an impact in other
areas,” she said.
President Kabore also spoke of the situation in Libya, accusing the West of not listening to Africa.
“We have asked the big nations to take their responsibility to solve
the Libyan question. It is clear that the African vision… was swept
aside… The solution that was chosen was to get rid of (Libyan leader
Moamer) Kadhafi and his ouster has led today to a fragmentation of the
country into several sub-groups with large quantities of arms.
“Europe must take a common position, so that we can find a definitive
solution which will freeze the supplies to these terrorist groups
across Libya,” he added.
Burkina Faso has suffered from increasingly frequent and deadly
attacks attributed to a number of jihadist groups, including the Ansarul
Islam group, the Group to Support Islam and Muslims (GSIM) and Islamic
State in the Greater Sahara.
Jihadist raids began in 2015 in the north before targeting the capital Ouagadougou and other regions, notably in the east.
A total of 350 people have been killed since 2015 — mainly in hit-and-run raids — according to an AFP tally.
Around 4.3 million people have been driven from their homes in the
worsening violence that has engulfed the entire Sahel region, including
one million over the past year, according to UN humanitarian officials.
France has deployed some 4,500 troops in Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger
and Chad in a mission codenamed Barkhane to help local forces try to
flush out jihadist groups.