Members will focus on three priorities: creating employment opportunities, building resilience to shocks, and promoting regional development and access to basic services.
Despite complex and multiple challenges affecting peace, security and development, members of the Sahel Alliance have pledged their willingness to remain engaged and committed for the long term to the people of the region, focusing in particular on the youth.
More than 150 representatives of the 27 members and observers of the Alliance – along with Sahel countries Mauritania, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger and Chad – gathered in Berlin, Germany, on Tuesday, July 16, for its 5th General Assembly.
Members of the Alliance, an international cooperation platform established in 2017 to support development in the Sahel region, reiterated their collective commitment to address the region’s development priorities and improve the situation of the Sahel’s populations.
Initiatives focused on three priorities:
-Creating employment and income opportunities for young people through education, training, skills development and entrepreneurship;
-Strengthening and building resilience to shocks, through social protection, ecosystem restoration and food security; and
-Promoting regional development and access to basic services.
The General Assembly was chaired by the German Federal Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development, Svenja Schulze.
“Since the last General Assembly of the Sahel Alliance, held in Nouakchott [the capital of Mauritania] last July, the region has seen profound political changes and the challenges in the region continue to be enormous: climate change, governance, unemployment, terrorism and desertification.
“Throughout the region, I have seen that our support reaches the people. Every person who gets an education, who knows how to better adapt to climate change, who can feed his or her family, is worth all our efforts,” Schulze said.
“I am convinced that, in these challenging times, it is especially important to continue our engagement and dialogue. In my second term as president of the Sahel Alliance I especially want to listen to the young generation in the Sahel region and focus on improving education and training for young people there.”
Abdessalam Ould Mohamed Saleh, Mauritania’s Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development, said the Sahel continued to face complex and multiple challenges affecting peace, security and development.
He emphasised the importance of continuous engagement and international support to help populations of the region to address food security and build resilience in the face of climate change and the refugee crises.
The World Bank’s regional vice-president for Western and Central Africa, Ousmane Diagana, also emphasised the need for meaningful collaboration to address the region’s challenges.
He said a new partnership between the World Bank and Germany had been created to mobilise resources for RELANCE, a regional joint initiative to support education and skills development.
“The complexity and urgency of the challenges facing the Sahel require meaningful collaboration among development partners and other key stakeholders,” he said, highlighting the transformative power of partnership when new ideas, perspectives and experiences were combined with the necessary financial resources.
“Collectively, we need to innovate and step-up our efforts to sustain development gains, build the resilience of populations and take them out of extreme poverty in a liveable Sahel.”
Sahel Alliance members also welcomed the establishment of the Sahel and West African Coast Countries Umbrella Trust Fund, which will serve as a new financing vehicle to support joint initiatives.
On Tuesday afternoon, after the General Assembly, an exchange was organised with civil society organisations (CSOs) and local governments from the Sahel countries.
Sahel Alliance members acknowledged the vital role of CSOs and local actors in promoting peace, development and social cohesion. They reaffirmed their commitment to strengthen partnerships with CSOs and support their efforts to empower communities and promote human rights.
Since its inception, Alliance members have funded development projects – focusing on education, employment and youth – totalling almost €23 billion.
They have reached 22.5 million people with livelihood support and food assistance, improved access to drinking water for 8 million people, vaccinated more than 5 million children and provided vocational training and skills development courses to 1.5 million people.
The 5th General Assembly was held 10 days after the military leaders of Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger unveiled their new confederation treaty.
Their July 6 summit in Niamey in Niger marked the first joint meeting of the three leaders – Burkina Faso’s Captain Ibrahim Traoré, Niger’s General Abdourahmane Tchiani and Mali’s Colonel Assimi Goïta – since they took power in a series of military coups.
At the meeting, they formalised their exit from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the regional bloc that imposed sanctions on them after the coups in Mali in 2020, Burkina Faso in 2022 and Niger in 2023.
They confirmed a defence pact signed last year that obliges all three to help one another if any one of them comes under attack.
Political analysts said their split from ECOWAS could have “serious ramifications”, ranging from economics to security.
They were concerned that the risk of insecurity in an already volatile region could increase.
ECOWAS leaders met in Abuja the day after the Naimey summit. They appointed Senegal’s President Bassirou Faye as a special mediator to persuade the three countries to rescind their decision.
However, analysts said the door had been opened for further disintegration of ECOWAS. They said it was unlikely that the three countries would return to the regional bloc.
AYSHA MUSTAPHA KOLOMI
