President Emmanuel Macron of France said on Tuesday that the implementation of a West African force set up to fight Islamist militants is slow.
The G5 Sahel force is made up of troops from Mali, Niger, Chad, Burkina Faso and Mauritania that will police the region in collaboration with 4,000 French troops deployed there since intervening in 2013 to beat back an insurgency in northern Mali.
“I believe that it is not going fast enough,” Macron, who is on a three-day tour of West Africa, said alongside Burkinabe President Roch Marc Kabore.
“It is indispensable that we win this war as quickly as possible.”
The G5 Sahel force, backed by France and the U.S., launched its campaign on Oct. 28 amid growing unrest in the desert reaches of the Sahel, where jihadists such as al Qaeda and Islamic State-affiliated groups roam undetected, often across long, porous borders.
Macron also said he would call for greater co-operation between Europe and Africa to tackle traffickers during a leaders summit in Ivory Coast on Wednesday.
The G5 Sahel was launched in 2014 in a bid to improve cooperation on development policies and security matters in West Africa.
From its inception, the group has positioned itself as a key regional interlocutor on security issues for the Sahel.
In February 2017, leaders of the G5, together with French President Emmanuel Macron, announced the formation of a force known as the G5 Sahel Force, or the FC-G5S, that is meant to fight armed groups and transnational crime.
The AU Peace and Security Council endorsed it in April, and the UN Security Council unanimously welcomed the resolution, supporting its formation in June.
The U.S. government has pledged 60 million dollars to a UN-backed counter-terrorism force geared to tackle rebel groups in the troubled Sahel region.
The UN Security Council said responsibility for funding lies with the G5, though it has encouraged support from the international community.
The five African countries have collectively pledged 57 million dollars between them, while the EU offered to match that amount.
In December 2017, a donor conference will be held in Brussels to try and make up the shortfall.