Burkina Faso and US DC National Guard Sign Partnership

The District of Columbia National Guard and the National Armed Forces of Burkina Faso signed a partnership agreement on 1 February. This initiative occurs under the Department of Defense’s State Partnership Program (SPP) which brings together different National Guards with U.S. partners around the world. The deal occurs at a critical moment as violence in Burkina Faso continues.

United States Pledges $60m To Build New African Counterterrorism Force

The Trump administration said Monday it would contribute an initial $60 million to help five nations in Africa’s Sahel region build a cross-border counterterrorism force but balked at a plan to provide multilateral support through the United Nations.

Sahel-Based Militants Accumulate $220m In Ransom Payments- Algerian NGO

Militant groups active in the African Sahel region have accumulated $220 million in ransoms paid to free westerners they held hostage since 2013, head of an Algerian NGO said on Sunday.

Africa's Sahel Region 'Threatened By Islamist Violence'

The growth of Islamist violence in the Sahel is threatening the stability of the entire region that runs south of Africa's Sahara Desert, a UN envoy has told the Security Council.

Hiroute Guebre Sellassie, the new UN envoy for the Sahel, said Nigeria, Libya and Mali were worst affected.

But overall "terrorist acts" in the Sahel and the Maghreb had increased by 60% in 2013, he said.