Can AU Tackle Security Challenges in the Sahel?

African leaders meeting in Mauritania last week pledged to redouble efforts aimed at curtailing and defeating extremist groups on the continent, especially in the Sahel region.

The pledge followed a rash of attacks by jihadi terrorist groups in two Sahel countries, including an attack that killed 10 Nigerien soldiers in the country’s southeast and an attack on the headquarters of the regional anti-jihadist G5 Sahel Force in Sevare and two other attacks in Mali.

But some experts are warning that there is not much the African Union can do to enhance the capabilities of the G5 force that was established last year.

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Originally published on VOA News

L’Afrique crée sa zone de libre-échange

Les dirigeants africains, présents à Kigali (Rwanda) pour le sommet extraordinaire de l’Union africaine (UA), ont ratifié l’accord prévoyant l’instauration d’une Zone de libre-échange continentale (Zlec), la plus vaste jamais conçue.

Sur les 55 pays que compte le continent, 44 ont signé le document donnant naissance à cet espace commercial africain «perçu comme essentiel au développement économique de l’Afrique», a annoncé le président de la Commission de l’UA, Moussa Faki, en conclusion du sommet.

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Article originally published on El Watan