Corona, Turkey’s interference in Libya top items at French-African summit

The Libyan crisis is casting a shadow over the summit to be hosted by Mauritania on June 30 with leaders of Africa’s G5 Sahel states and French President Emmanuel Macron to discuss coordination in facing the current security challenges and the repercussions of the corona pandemic on efforts to combat terrorism.

The Turkish military interference in Libya will be at the forefront of the French-African summit, which aims to formulate a common vision to address the dangers of militias and terrorist elements expanding towards the region from Libya.

Coalition for the Sahel

France has pushed to strengthen military cooperation between it and the G5 Sahel states by launching the International Coalition for the Sahel, which is a broad international coalition to fight terrorism in the Sahel and Sahara region. The coalition includes France, the European Union, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and a number of other countries.

In February, France increased its Operation Barkhane forces from 4,500 to 5,100 in order to combat terrorism and reduce the bloody operations of terrorist groups there.

Mauritania is an active member of the Sahel group and the only Arab country in it. This makes it central to the process of communicating with supporters of the group.

With the continued flow of arms and mercenaries to Libya, the crisis in the war-torn country is escalating. Despite international calls to stop the escalation and return to negotiations, Ankara continues its dubious moves to spread chaos and facilitate the spread of terrorist organizations such as al-Qaeda and ISIS, which constitutes a danger that transcends the borders of Libya.

Nouakchott urged the G5’s international partners to support efforts to end the fighting in Libya and find a sustainable political solution, in reference to the Egyptian initiative announced by President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi earlier in June.

Mauritanian Defense Minister Hananeh Ould Sidi called on the international community to work for an immediate end to the fighting in Libya and to find a solution to the crisis, which is affecting security and stability in the region.

Creating new African force

Military leaders from the G5 Sahel states discussed the idea of creating a new African force to support the group in its response to terrorist threats in the region.

According to the Mauritanian website Sahara Media, the army chiefs of staff of the five countries (Mauritania, Mali, Niger, Chad and Burkina Faso) held an emergency meeting on Wednesday, June 24 in partnership with the African Union’s Peace and Security Council (PSC), during which they discussed arrangements for the creation of a force of 3,000 soldiers to support the G5 confront security threats and terrorism in the Sahel.

PSC Commissioner Smaїl Chergui confirmed in statements that the increasing terrorist attacks in the African Sahel region are because of the impact of the situation in Libya. He stressed that solutions to the problems and challenges of the Sahel countries and other African regions will not come from abroad, but rather through respecting the principle of national solutions and embodying them on the ground in accordance with the local specificities and national perceptions of each country.

Chergui expressed his regret that terrorist groups, extremist groups, smugglers and criminal groups are investing in such circumstances, especially in areas where there is no state interest, establishing control and compensating the state services in a manner that allows them to increase recruitment and expand their terrorist activities outside the Sahel region.