AFRICA’S central Sahel region has become a hotspot for violent extremism, a senior United Nations official warned on Tuesday, with a joint force set up to combat groups linked to the Islamic State and others failing to stop their inroads.

UN assistant secretary-general for Africa Martha Pobee told a security council meeting that without greater international support and regional co-operation, the instability will expand further.

Ms Pobee said: “Resolute advances in the fight against terrorism, violent extremism and organised crime in the Sahel desperately need to be made.” 

The counter-terrorism force, now composed of Burkina Faso, Chad, Mauritania and Niger, lost Mali a year ago when its ruling junta decided to pull out. 

Ms Pobee said the force has not conducted any major military operations since January.

She said the force is still adjusting to France moving its counter-terrorism force from Mali to Niger due to tensions with the junta and Mali’s decision to allow Russian mercenaries from Wagner to deploy on its territory.

Ms Pobee said Burkina Faso and Niger have recently strengthened military co-operation with Mali to counter an upsurge in extremist attacks, but “despite these efforts, insecurity in the tri-border area continues to grow.”

The assistant secretary-general criticised the international community, saying a lack of consensus among donors and partners left the joint force without sufficient funding and other needed support to become fully operational and autonomous so it could have “the capacity to help stabilise the Sahel region.”

Eric Tiare, executive secretary of the G5 Sahel, the UN peacekeeping force which supplies fuel, rations, medical evacuation and engineering support, said: “Given that the Sahel is at a crossroads, with many threats to international peace and security, it’s absolutely vital that we provide support to the force.”

“The force needs what it has always lacked and what it has always sought: sustainable funding and equipment as we seek to counter terrorism.”

UN experts have reported in recent years that Africa has been the region hardest hit by terrorism, and UN counter-terrorism chief Vladimir Voronkov told the security council in January that the Islamic State group’s expansion into Africa’s Sahel region is “particularly worrying.”

Last August, African security expert Martin Ewi said at least 20 African countries were directly experiencing activity by Islamic State, and more than 20 others were “being used for logistics and to mobilise funds and other resources.”