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The European Union’s partnership with the G5 Sahel countries

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Mali
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EC
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WHY IS THE EU WORKING WITH AFRICA’S “G5 SAHEL COUNTRIES”?

In 2014, Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, and Niger set up the “G5 Sahel” group of countries to foster close cooperation in the region and tackle the major challenges that these countries face. Since then, the EU has stepped up cooperation with this African-led initiative to build a strong partnership on many fronts: from political dialogue, to development and humanitarian support, to strengthening security and tackling irregular migration.

The Sahel region faces a number of pressing challenges such as extreme poverty, frequent food and nutrition crises, conflict, irregular migration and related crimes such as human trafficking and migrant smuggling; governance challenges, demographic growth or climate change. Violent extremism also poses a serious security challenge to the region and has potential spill-over effects outside the region, including Europe.

WHAT ARE THE EU’S MAIN AREAS OF SUPPORT TO THE G5 SAHEL COUNTRIES?

The EU is now supporting the G5 Sahel countries on 3 MAIN TRACKS:

POLITICAL PARTNERSHIP The EU is a strong political partner of the G5 Sahel countries and has set up regular “EU-G5” dialogues. High Representative Vice-President Federica Mogherini has held annual meetings with G5 Sahel Foreign Ministers to strengthen cooperation in areas of shared interest such as development, governance in fragile areas, improved security, including the fight against terrorism and illicit trafficking. The EU is also strongly engaged in Mali’s peace process.

SECURITY AND STABILITY SUPPORT The EU supports concrete regional-led security initiatives. The EU has already provided €147 million to establish the African led G5 Sahel Joint Force which aims to improve regional security and fight terrorist and criminal groups. The EU is itself a key security partner in the region, with its 3 Common Security and Defence Policy missions; EUCAP Sahel Niger, EUCAP Sahel Mali, EU training mission (EUTM) in Mali. The EU has deployed the Regional Advisory and Coordination Cell (RACC) in Nouakchott, where the G5 Sahel Permanent Secretariat is based. The EU also provides other programmes to improve support stability and security in the region.

DEVELOPMENT COOPERATION The EU, together with its Member States, is the biggest provider of development cooperation to the region with €8 billion over 2014-2020. It uses all its tools to support development efforts in the region, notably the ‘EU Emergency Trust Fund for stability and addressing root causes of irregular migration and displaced persons in Africa’ under which €1.865 billion has been committed so far for the region. The EU has also financed since 2015 under the Instrument Contributing to Stability and Peace (IcSP) several regional programmes in the G5 Sahel for €14 million. The EU is also a member and key supporter of the Sahel Alliance, set up to coordinate existing EU and Member States development cooperation better in the region, in a faster and more interlinked way than before through joint action. In response to the development and security priorities of the G5 Sahel – as set out in the Priority Investment Programme (PIP) – the EU announced additional funding of EUR 125 million at the Partners and Donors Coordination Conference in Nouakchott, Mauritania, last December.