African anti-jihadi force gets millions after French meeting

LA CELLE-SAINT-CLOUD, France (AP) - French President Emmanuel Macron said Wednesday after a conference of presidents, princes and diplomats to boost a young African military force countering growing extremism in the Sahel region that he foresees victories there "in the first half of 2018."

Macron announced new pledges for the effort, one from Saudi Arabia of $100 million and another of $30 million from the United Arab Emirates.

The French leader called the conference to breathe life into the new force, made up of soldiers from Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso, Chad and Mauritania but in need of a huge boost to fulfill its mission, which includes fighting organized crime and human trafficking.

Nearly five years after France intervened to rout Islamist extremists in northern Mali, then controlled by an al-Qaida affiliate, the threat has spread to neighboring countries in the volatile Sahel, the sprawling, largely barren zone south of the Sahara desert. The growing extremism has also spawned new jihadi groups, including one claiming affiliation with the Islamic State group.

In recent months, security forces and the 12,000-strong U.N. peacekeeping mission in Mali have been prime targets in the Sahel. Attacks often occur in the border regions of Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, where four U.S. soldiers were killed earlier this year.

Besides the leaders of the five-nation force known as G5 Sahel, delegations representing Europe, the African Union and international organizations were in attendance Wednesday.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel stressed the urgency of making the force fully operational.

"Islamic extremism is propagating. We can't wait," she said.

Macron said France's 4,000-strong counterterrorism force in the region since 2014, known as Barkhane, will help the G5 force with critical air, intelligence and other support and "we will win victories in the first half of 2018."

"We need to win the war against terrorism in the Sahel zone and it's in full swing," Macron said. "There are attacks every day. There are states that are, today, threatened and there is a real presence of terrorists. We want to intensify our efforts with this new format ... that's our goal."

The new force has carried out a single test operation. The operation in early November involved 350 forces from Burkina Faso, 200 from Niger and 200 from Mali, according to the French Defense Ministry.

The G5 Sahel force launched in Mali in July with Macron present. He has taken the lead in persuading partners to help make the force viable, arguing that the fate of the Sahel region affects Europe.

"Terrorists, thugs and assassins" must be eradicated, he said in July.

The fledgling force is expected to grow into a 5,000-strong army by March but needs soldiers, training, operational autonomy and funding. Macron said he sees it at full strength as planned.

The budget to launch the force is 250 million euros ($293 million), with 400 million euros ($470 million) needed down the road, French Defense Minister Florence Parly said on RFI radio.

Saudi Arabia, represented by its foreign minister, Adel Al Jubeir, announced a $100 million contribution. A special funding conference is planned for February.

French officials estimate that the extremists in the region number no more than 1,000, compared to several thousand in northern Mali in 2013, when France intervened. But the numbers are deceptive, failing to reflect the danger and difficulty of hunting down an enemy in region the size of Europe.

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An earlier version corrected the first name of French President Emmanuel Macron.