US pledges help to G5 sahel counter terrorism force [The Morning Call]

Though initially reluctant to commit funding, the United States has promised up to $60 million to support the Group of Five Sahel States G5 Joint Force’s counter-terrorism efforts.

Coming after the killing of four US soldiers in Niamey, US secretary of state Rex Tillerson said the funds pledge, which must now go through Congress, will bolster the U.S.’s regional partners in their fight

against Islamic State and other terrorist networks in the world. The force – which will eventually comprise nearly 5,000 troops units from Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso, Chad and Mauritania – is meant to

counter a growing jihadist threat in West Africa’s arid Sahel region that includes groups linked to Al Qaeda and Islamic State.