January 23, (THEWILL) – The United States on Tuesday pledged $45 million to help fight conflict and bring stability to coastal West Africa, where insecurity linked to jihadist insurgencies has increased in recent years.
US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken. said the funding will supplement the 300 million dollars the US has already invested in coastal West Africa over the past two years.
Blinken is on the second stop of a four-nation tour of Africa taking him to Cape Verde, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, and Angola from January 21-26.
The purpose of the trip is to discuss United States-African partnerships over trade, climate, infrastructure, health, security, and other issues. It follows a summit in Washington with African leaders in December 2022.
Blinken arrived in Ivory Coast’s financial capital Abidjan, on Monday evening and met President Alassane Ouattara on Tuesday morning, after which he announced the extra financing at a joint press briefing.
Ivory Coast is one of several coastal West African countries impacted in recent years by Islamist insurgencies that took root in Mali in 2012 and spread across the Sahel region despite costly, internationally backed military efforts to contain it.
“We spent a lot of time discussing mutual security challenges. We appreciate Ivory Coast’s leadership in the fight against extremism and violence.”
“We have increased military training by 15 times and are investing in civil protection in Ivory Coast”, Blinken said.
Ouattara said security in the region remained a challenge.
“That is why we do appreciate the USA for their support in the area of intelligence and the fight against terrorism”, he said.
Blinken is scheduled to fly to Nigeria on Tuesday evening.
