Panafrican News Agency

G5 Sahel Day celebrated amidst security crisis

Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso (PANA) - The G5 Sahel countries celebrated on Sunday to mark the anniversary of the signing of the Convention creating the group, amidst security crisis.

In a message, the President of the Transitional Military Council, President of Chad and current President of the G5 Sahel, Gen. Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno, said that the celebration of the Day on 19 December, happened under particularly difficult conditions.

"Our region, our Sahel, a land of intermingling, contacts and civilisations dating back thousands of years, must remain a bulwark against terrorism, cross-border crime and violent extremism," he said, stressing that "we are working hard, in this spirit, to ensure that no effort is spared to preserve and maintain security, peace and stability, which are essential conditions for the development of our region.

By celebrating the "G5 Sahel Day, we reaffirm the refusal of the Sahelians to accept fatality and magnify our great ambition for a Sahel at peace with itself, a vector of peace and stability for its immediate neighbourhood, for Africa and for the world", he added.

In February 2021, Chad took over the rotating presidency of the G5 Sahel for the second time.

For the Chadian president, the results of this presidency, a few months before the end of his term, are encouraging in view of the achievements and projects underway, despite the Covid-19 pandemic.

"This is therefore an appropriate opportunity for me to recall that the G5 Sahel strategy is based on two pillars: security, through the joint force, and development with the Priority Investment Programme (PIP)," he noted.

Stressing that much remains to be done to bring the populations out of underdevelopment and offer them well-being, he said efforts must be pursued with important priority actions with rapid impacts, with the support and accompaniment of all partners and friends.

However, he maintained that "the Sahel must not be the theatre of international covetousness, because the Sahel belongs to the Sahelians in the same way that Africa belongs to Africans.

Therefore, the friends of the Sahel are called upon to support the Sahel states and the G5 Sahel coalition forces and the legitimate aspirations of the Sahel peoples," he said.

He said that the Sahel countries are engaged in a difficult and long-term struggle, and "we are convinced that we can count on the contributions of all strata of our societies, but also on the many friends of the Sahel, to win this struggle for the preservation of peace in our sub-region, in Africa and in the world.

-0- PANA NTDD/IS/BBA/VAO 19Dec2021