NATO To Send Experts To Mauritania To Boost Cooperation With Sahel Countries - Stoltenberg

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization will dispatch a group of advisers to Mauritania to discuss cooperation with the countries of Africa's Sahel region, Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Thursday

BRUSSELS (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 14th January, 2021) The North Atlantic Treaty Organization will dispatch a group of advisers to Mauritania to discuss cooperation with the countries of Africa's Sahel region, Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Thursday.

Earlier in the day, Stoltenberg met with Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Ghazouani discussing ways to strengthen security cooperation between the two sides.

"So we work bilaterally with Mauritania, we work with Mauritania in the G5 Sahel [regional cooperation framework] context, Mauritania holding the Chairmanship of the group, the G5 Sahel ... We have decided to send a team of experts from NATO to Mauritania, as soon as possible to look into concrete activities, concrete projects and of course, that may also in some way or another involve working with the EU but I think it's wrong if I now speculate about what kind of concrete project that will be," Stoltenberg said at a press conference as quoted in the official transcript.

West Africa and the Sahel have faced widespread political turmoil and security challenges. In 2014, France launched the counterterrorism operation Barkhane to stabilize the situation so that the region's countries could maintain security on their own. This mission is supported by G5 Sahel, which was founded the same year, to facilitate development and security between Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger.