Saudi Arabia pledges $100 million in Sahel terror fight

By Yusuf Ozcan and Omer Aydin

PARIS (AA) - Saudi Arabia on Wednesday has pledged $100 million towards a multination anti-terror force fighting extremist groups in the Sahel region of West Africa.

"We must win the war against terrorism," French President Emmanuel Macron said after the G5 Sahel summit in Paris involving African states Mali, Mauritania, Chad, Burkina Faso and Niger.

Macron said the EU pledged €50 million ($59 million) while the U.S. promised $60 million and the United Arap Emirates $30 million.

The French president also said he foresaw victories "in the first half of 2018"

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, also at summit, said the fight against terrorism in the Sahel region was critical to halt migration flows to Europe through the Mediterranean.

Merkel also said Germany made a decision to send humanitarian aids valued at €1 billion ($1.17 billion) to the region between 2017 and 2021.

Mali President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita called for urgent action following the announcement of financial commitments at the summit, warning terror groups could rush from the Middle East to West Africa.

The next G5 Sahel summit will be held on Feb. 23 next year in Brussels, Macron added.

Several extremist groups are reportedly active in the Sahel region -- including Daesh, al-Qaeda and Boko Haram -- which occasionally carry out attacks on military and civilian targets.

This is especially the case in Mali, where militants overran much of the country in 2012 before being expelled following the intervention of French military forces.

The Sahel region stretches across the south-central latitudes of North Africa between the Atlantic Ocean and the Red Sea.