The Trump administration, opposed to multilateral initiatives, has so far refused to let the UN back the G5 Sahel force with cash. The force commanders claim they need €423m in its first year, but so far only €108m has been raised, almost half from the EU. The EU reached deals with Turkey and some north African countries to return migrants home, in return for development aid and other EU-funded programmes. Other critics claim that a UN imprimatur on the G5 Sahel force, given its weak institutional structure, could leave the UN open to charges of overseeing further human rights abuses by UN troops. It is also claimed there is a form of “security traffic jam” in Mali building up.

Source: The Guardian October 30, 2017 04:52 UTC