Page 10 - aruba-today-20180224

A10 WORLD NEWS
Saturday 24 February 2018

Donors pledge $510 million for West Africa anti-terror force

off point for thousands of terrorism, has grown," he
African migrants bound for said. While the new funding
Italy. was welcomed, Niger Presi-
The amount pledged dent Mahamadou Issoufou
"goes far beyond our ini- warned that it would keep
tial expectations," said EU the counterterror force op-
foreign policy chief Fed- erational for only one year
erica Mogherini, speaking based on current needs.
at a summit in Brussels of "It's easy to imagine that
32 leaders and 60 delega- the confrontation between
tions. "It's a tremendous re- the terrorists and us lasts for
sult that allows us to begin more than a year. So we
putting the force into oper- need a continuous form
ation." Underscoring the se- of financing," he said, sug-
curity threat, two members gesting that the G5 force
of a French counterterror- should come under the
ism force in Mali were killed United Nations' control.
Wednesday when their ar- "The Sahel is one of Eu-
mored vehicle struck an rope's frontiers. The Sahel
explosive device. Friday's is a shield, a dike that must
summit started with a min- never burst," Issoufou said,
President of Niger Mahamadou Issoufou speaks with the media as he arrives for an EU-Sahel ute's silence in their mem- reminding the leaders that
meeting at EU headquarters in Brussels on Friday, Feb. 23, 2018. European Union leaders meet
Friday with counterparts from Africa's Sahel in a show of support for the impoverished region fallen ory, and French President "security is a global pub-
prey to extremists and a key transit point for migrants heading to Europe. Emmanuel Macron called lic good." But the EU insists
(AP Photo/Geert Wijngaert) for greater efforts to help it’s not just about security.
the region. "Today the Sa- Brussels says political help
By LORNE COOK West Africa's vast Sahel re- Chad, Mali, Mauritania hel, because we failed in and development assis-
BRUSSELS (AP) — Interna- gion set up a new coun- and Niger was seeking the past in terms of security tance are vital in a region
tional donors on Friday terterror force as a deadly around 400 million euros for and development, has be- wracked by extreme pov-
pledged 414 million euros jihadist threat grows. its mission along mostly des- come a terrain where the erty, harsh climate, food
($510 million) to help five The 5,000-strong G5 Sa- ert borders, including near trafficking of humans, of shortages and health
impoverished countries in hel force for Burkina Faso, Libya — the main jumping- drugs and arms that feed crises.q

Parents fear worst for missing girls after Nigeria attack

By HARUNA UMAR they eventually found the the boarding school in the negotiations, about 100 of gen they feed on is publici-
KRISTA LARSON school, they abducted northern village of Dapchi. the girls were said to be in- ty so that they can grab the
DAPCHI, Nigeria (AP) — more than 90 girls. Most of "On the issue of the number doctrinated by their cap- world’s attention. But I can
The sound of gunfire rang them are our friends' and of missing girls, we cannot tors and had children with assure you that with the de-
out as residents gathered brothers' daughters." give what we are not sure them. Those young women termination of our gallant
for evening prayers at the Now parents say 101 of ... Give us a few more now seem lost forever to military, the days of Boko
mosque. Soon the armed schoolgirls are missing af- time, please," urged Nige- their families, unwilling to Haram are numbered,” the
fighters showed up in their ter the Boko Haram assault rian Information Minister Lai return home nearly four information minister said.
trucks and made their tar- Monday evening, pre- Muhammed, who visited years later. While some of the Dapchi
get clear: Where was the senting Nigeria's govern- the town by helicopter on Nigeria’s government has girls may still be in hiding,
girls' school, they asked. ment with its most wrench- Thursday. repeatedly declared that hope is fading with each
Usman Katarko, a farmer, ing challenge since the Confusion and a slow fed- Boko Haram is all but de- day they do not return, es-
said he knew the men were Chibok mass abduction of eral government response feated after an eight-year pecially given the multiple
not soldiers even though 276 schoolgirls in 2014 that to the Chibok abductions insurgency that has spread eyewitness accounts of stu-
they wore military uniforms shocked the world. ultimately led to an interna- into neighboring Niger, dents being taken away at
because there were Ara- "This is a national disaster," tional "Bring Back Our Girls" Cameroon and Chad and gunpoint during the chaos
bic inscriptions on their ve- President Muhammadu Bu- movement that pressured displaced millions of peo- on Monday.
hicles. hari said Friday evening on Nigeria's leaders to make ple. “Some of my colleagues
"I heard them shouting: Twitter. rescuing the schoolgirls a The declarations continued were trapped and caught
'Show us where the school Conflicting reports added priority. this week, even after the by the insurgents and were
is! Show us where the girls' to the confusion Friday While many of the Chibok Dapchi attack. taken away,” said 13-year-
school is!'" he told The As- over the fate of the young girls escaped or were later “They have been starved old Fatima Bako, who man-
sociated Press. "When women who attended freed through government out of oxygen, and the oxy- aged to hide.q