OUAGADOUGOU, Oct. 24 (Xinhua) -- The Acting-President of the G5 Sahel, also President of Burkina Faso, on Thursday asked Russia for enhanced strategic partnership for the fight against terrorism in the Sahel region.
President Roch Marc Christian Kaboré said this in his speech at the Russia-Africa Summit held in Russa's Sochi.
The president revealed that the west African country is facing a spate of terrorist attacks that have killed over 500 people and displaced over 450,000 others since 2015.
"I would like to call on Russia to establish a reinforced strategic partnership with Sahel and to support the action plan for the fight against terrorism," he said.
Last September, in the capital Ouagadougou, a special summit of the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) adopted a plan of action and agreed to one billion U.S. dollars resource mobilization for the fight against terrorism.
The financial package will be used to equip national defense and multinational forces of the Ecowas, grouping fifteen countries.
Also, the package will help to strengthen intelligence services in the Ecowas region, as terrorism scaled up in the G5 Sahel countries (Niger, Burkina Faso, Mauritania, Chad, Mali) and threatens the coastal countries.
"We expect that today's historic summit will set the stage for the fruitful and useful partnership sought for the security and the stability of our region", he said.
Kaboré underscored that the fight against terrorism is now national priority for each of the 5 countries forming the G5 Sahel.
G5 Sahel is an institutional framework for coordination of regional cooperation in development policies and security matters in west Africa.
