United Nations Security Council chambers at UN world headquarters in New York City
By Gary Raynaldo DIPLOMATIC TIMES
UNITED NATIONS – NEW YORK – The UN Security Council adopted a presidential statement Tuesday that voiced grave concern over the deteriorating security situation in West Africa and the Sahel. Ireland and Niger, the co-penholders for West Africa and the Sahel, circulated a first draft of the presidential statement on 22 July as a follow-up to the Council’s 8 July briefing on West Africa and the Sahel and the activities of the UN Office for West Africa and the Sahel (UNOWAS). The Security Council presidential statement took aim at the surge in terror attacks in the region. The security situation in the Sahel continues to deteriorate, with terrorist groups operating in the Sahel expanding their presence southward, increasingly threatening coastal West African states, according to a UN report. There has been political instability in Chad following the recent death of President Idriss Déby while fighting rebels invading from Libya and in Mali when the perpetrators of last year’s coup d’état carried out a second coup against Mali’s transitional authorities, according to the UN. President Déby was killed on 19 April about 300 kilometres north of the capital N’Djamena, fighting the Chadian rebel group FACT.
7 Malian soldiers killed in terrorist attack
Les Forces Armées Maliennes (FAMa) sont responsables de la défense de l’intégrité territoriale et la souveraineté du Mali. (FAMa Twitter)
On June 27, at least 7 Malian soldiers were killed in a terrorist attack in the east central region of the west African nation, Mali’s military reported.
Ninth Attack on Soldiers in MALI After 2020 Military Coup – 87 Soldiers Killed
Les Forces Armées Maliennes (FAMa) sont responsables de la défense de l’intégrité territoriale et la souveraineté du Mali.
Mali was plunged into political chaos following a military coup last year on August 18 that forced out President Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta .
UN Security Council Also Concerned Over Piracy in Gulf of Guinea
Addressing security trends in the region, the UN Security Council expressed concern in its presidential statement about the deteriorating situation in some countries; the growth of terrorism in the Sahel and Lake Chad Basin, as well as in the wider West African region; and about piracy in the Gulf of Guinea. The statement also recognises the adverse effects of climate change, ecological changes and natural disasters on the “security and stability of West Africa and the Sahel region”.
