G5 Sahel countries discuss regional impact of coronavirus

Top leaders of the five G5 Sahel countries in Africa held a meeting last Monday to discuss in depth the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in general and also on regional security, which has been seriously threatened by terrorist activity in the area in recent times.  

African leaders agreed on the urgent need to continue coordinated joint efforts to fight jihadist extremism and to address the threat of terror that has plagued the area for the past few years.  

Mohamed Ould Ghazouani, the president of Mauritania, convened the group's rotating chairmanship by video conference to demonstrate the relevance and necessity of this conclave to address issues related to "the impact of the coronavirus outbreak on security, stability and development in the Sahel region and the world, and the need to intensify efforts to address this deadly epidemic.
 

At this meeting, the leaders also discussed the preparation of a forthcoming multilateral summit with the European Union (EU), with a view to strengthening mutual coordination in the areas of security and development. 

This telematic meeting has arrived in a complicated scenario for the region due to the spread of COVID-19, which resulted in the closure of the borders between the G5 Sahel countries, putting at risk the proper functioning of the joint coordination arranged against the terrorist threat that has severely hit the area in recent years.  

This problem was also compounded by some bad news in this regard, such as the recent determination of the Government of Chad not to participate in anti-jihadist missions abroad alone and to limit itself only to joint operations with other nations.  
 

In mid-April, Chad launched one of the largest anti-jihadist operations on the border with Lake Chad, called 'Colère de Boma' ('Boma's Wrath'), which killed 52 Chadian soldiers and some 1,000 jihadists, according to Army spokesman Colonel Azem Bermendoa Agouna.

Chadian President Idriss Deby said in a television address after the mission that ""Chad is alone in shouldering all the burden of the war against Boko Haram", and that the soldiers had died trying to defend Lake Chad and the Sahel. He announced that from then on, no Chadian soldiers would take part in an outside military operation.

The Chadian Ministry of Foreign Affairs eventually eased the tension somewhat and explained that the decision would apply only to Chad's unilateral missions outside its borders, and that at no time did it mean that they would be disengaged from the mixed forces of which they are part. 
 

So far, Africa is not among the most affected continents by the plague of the coronavirus, which has already left hundreds of thousands of deaths and millions of diagnosed cases worldwide. In the Sahel, Mauritania is one of the less affected countries of the group after the practical recovery of the registered cases, counting now with encouraging figures of only one death and seven affected by coronavirus. Meanwhile, countries such as Mali and Burkina Faso are witnessing a spread of infection of the disease that has led to an increased number of deaths in both countries. Thus, Mali has recorded 23 deaths and almost 400 cases, while Burkina Faso has recorded 42 deaths and more than 600 cases, despite the fact that the latter has a much smaller territory. It should be noted that Niger is also affected, with 29 deaths and 700 infected, and the more stable and less serious situation in Chad, which officially has no deaths from coronavirus and less than 50 diagnosed cases.   

Despite the fact that the spread of the coronavirus has not exploded with enormous virulence on the African continent, the World Health Organization (WHO) recently warned that Africa is gradually becoming a new epidemic, and called on the international community to support the continent, which does not have efficient health systems due to a lack of means and funding and where people's living conditions are obviously not the best, with a lack of basic services in many cases.