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I thank the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for the Sahel, Ms Hiroute Guebre Sellassie, for her briefing on the progress towards implementation of the United Nations Integrated Strategy for the Sahel. Mr. President, As the latest SG report indicates, the Sahel region continues to face grave security, development and socio-economic challenges. Close coordination and coherence of activities by the UN, the African Union, the EU, ECOWAS, G5 countries and other regional and subregional actors, ensuring a complementarity of efforts  and enhancing the delivery of assistance and support is crucial.

The EU remains a dedicated partner of  the UN, AU and regional actors in the Sahel region, implementing its respective strategy and an action plan adopted earlier this year, which  focuses on four key priorities: a) prevention and countering radicalisation; b) creation of appropriate conditions for youth; c) migration and mobility; and d) border management, the fight against illicit trafficking and transnational organised crime.  As part of the EUTM, Lithuanian instructors have been training Malian forces in Koulikoro.

Mr. President,

The November 20 assault on the Radisson Blu hotel in Bamako, claiming some 22 lives, was the latest in a series of deadly raids this year in Mali. We strongly condemn this murderous attack and express our condolences to all those affected.

The terrorist threat posed by Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, Boko Haram, MUJAO, Ansar Dine,  Al Mourabitoun, and other groups; human smuggling, trafficking,  the free flow of arms into the region, further compounded by the Libya crisis,  continue to aggravate Sahel’s vulnerabilities and insecurity.

We commend the implementation of  projects and flagship programmes  by the UN family,  aimed, inter alia, at strengthening security cooperation, border protection, counter-terrorism coordination and information sharing, as well as countering violent extremism and radicalization in the Sahel.  In all such efforts it is essential to ensure that the UN acts as one, in a coherent, complementary, and synergistic fashion.

We also welcome the efforts of G5 Sahel to reinforce regional security cooperation capacity by carrying out joint cross-border military exercises with the support of partners, including through operation Barkhane, and their willingness to work together on cross-border issues, such as organized crime, radicalization and the root causes of illegal migration.

Mr. President,

Tackling poverty and social exclusion,  marginalisation and lingering grievances of individual communities within the Sahel countries remains crucial. As SG’s report notes, despite the fact that 60 per cent of the population in the Sahel are below the age of 25, the youth are not systematically involved in decision-making processes and lack education and employment opportunities. Such situation is a ticking time bomb. The disaffected young people are easy prey to terrorist recruiters and  organized crime.   

The countries of the region, with the support of  international partners, need to develop sustainable livelihoods, strengthen the presence of the state throughout respective countries, ensure the delivery of basic social services, and guarantee access to justice.

In all the countries of the region, there is a clear need to develop rule of law, law enforcement and judicial capacities in order to be able to detain and try terrorists and radical extremists. Tangible improvements are also urgent in the detention and penitentiary systems, also considering the fact that prisons can often serve as recruitment grounds for violent extremists and criminals, especially in conditions where regular criminals and petty offenders are held together with terrorist suspects for lengthy periods of time. Concerns regarding the safety and security of judges trying terrorist cases must also be taken into account.  

More attention is  required to preventing recruitment and radicalization among the vulnerable refugee and displaced communities, especially in border line zones, where terrorist extremists can come and go as they please because of porous borders. Border line zones are subject to particular vulnerabilities, as seen, for example, from Boko Haram first strikes against Niger in Bosso, Diffa area.

The role of women, civil society representatives, community elders, and religious leaders needs to be enhanced to prevent radicalization. Some  good practices exist among the countries of the region, as for example promoting moderate Islam through the training of Imams in Mali,  which can be shared and applied more widely.