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Summit shows EU support for Africa's Sahel region - Gentiloni

23 febbraio 2018 | 15.13
LETTURA: 2 minuti

Summit shows EU support for Africa's Sahel region - Gentiloni

An international summit on the Sahel held in Brussels on Friday was "a very important moment" for Europe's commitment to the "fragile" African region, Italy's premier Paolo Gentiloni said on Friday.

"I believe the EU and African Union conference to support the G5 Sahel is a very important moment to confirm Europe' commitment in Africa, especially the Sahel region," Gentiloni stated.

"This is due to its infiltration by terrorists, climate change, economic vulnerability and migration flows," he said.

"It is an especially fragile and crucial area."

At Friday's high-level meeting, the EU announced an extra 50 million euros for the G5 Sahel force tackling jihadists in the region at talks with heads of state from Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger, who set up the "G5 Sahel" in 2014.

The extra funds came on top of some 280 million euros already pledged by international donors.

The summit was also attended by France's president Emmanuel Macron and Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel and other top European leaders and came after two soldiers from France’s counter-terror force in West Africa were killed on Wednesday in northeastern Mali when their vehicle hit a mine.

"We expressed solidarity with France for the two soldiers who were killed in recent days, " Gentiloni said.

"We confirmed our commitment to the fundamental role of the EU," Gentiloni went on.

"For a country like Italy, this means a long-term commitment to counter the risks of terrorism and the underlying causes of migration," he said.

As well as EU leaders and the United Nations, around a dozen other countries' foreign ministers were due to attend Friday's summit including Saudi Arabia - the biggest donor to the G5 Sahel - Norway, Morocco and Tunisia.

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