U.N. Chief Vows Help for Poverty-Hit Sahel
U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon vowed Tuesday to help the people of Africa's poor and conflict-scarred Sahel as he began a regional tour in Mali overshadowed by the murder of two French journalists.
Ban, World Bank chief Jim Yong Kim and top officials from the African Union, African Development Bank and European Union met Mali's president and key government ministers at the start of a three-day trip that will also take in Niger, Burkina Faso and Chad.
"The international community stands with the people of the Sahel. We need an approach that breaks down institutional barriers and joins up political, security, development and humanitarian efforts throughout the region," Ban said.
The EU describes the Sahel as "one of the poorest regions of the world and it is particularly vulnerable to most of the plagues" that prevent governments providing essential economic, social and political services.
"For years, bleak images from the Sahel have penetrated the public consciousness: drought-stricken land; families struggling to eke a living; communities reeling from horrendous violations of human rights. Together we can change this picture," Ban said.
"We can help accelerate your progress, break the cycles of crises and move the region towards peace, security and development.
"The Sahel region can and will go forward -- but it can only do so together."
The Mali leg of a trip aimed at highlighting poverty comes as French and Malian troops hunt the killers of Ghislaine Dupont, 57, and Claude Verlon, 55, who were shot dead by suspected terrorists in the northeastern town of Kidal on Saturday.
The deaths have highlighted the ongoing security threat just three weeks ahead of parliamentary elections supposed to mark the completion of Mali's transition back to democracy following a military coup in March last year.
President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita vowed that Mali would play its part in tackling security threats in the restive north, which was occupied for most of last year by Islamists who supplanted Tuareg separatist groups before they were ousted by a French-led military intervention.
"These groups are spreading desolation and terror... No one country in the region can cope with the crisis in the Sahel," he said, calling for a united response to militant violence.
Keita, elected in August as Mali began its transition back to democracy following the coup, urged rebels in the country's vast desert north to lay down their arms.
"My government has chosen the strategic option of peace and dialogue. Our people reject the clash of arms, they want a lasting and definitive solution to the crisis in the north of the country," he said.
On a brief stop-off later in Timbuktu, Ban said Mali faced many challenges despite the Islamist occupation being defeated and urged the fabled desert caravan town to take part in the November 24 parliamentary polls.
During a brutal takeover characterized by beatings and executions, Al-Qaida-linked extremists destroyed the mausoleums of Muslim saints as well as valuable manuscripts in Timbuktu, the intellectual and spiritual capital of Islam in Africa in the 15th and 16th centuries.
Sporadic violence continues to plague the town, which saw two civilians killed and eight soldiers wounded in a suicide bombing by four militants from Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb in September.
"It is especially necessary to strengthen security in Timbuktu, given recent events. I also deplore the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Timbuktu, especially food insecurity which prevails here," Ban said a speech to civil society activists.
"The United Nations will continue to help you in this regard as well as to encourage the return of refugees and displaced persons."
Eleven million of the 80 million people living in Sahel countries lack sufficient food, the region has had three severe droughts in a decade and Ban noted that it is awash with weapons and has seen "horrendous violations of human rights".
The European Union and the World Bank on Monday pledged more than $8 billion (six billion euros) in fresh aid for Sahel region countries, torn by conflict and among the poorest in all Africa.
Source: Agence France Presse
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