US warns military takeovers in Africa’s Sahel hamper fight against terrorism in the volatile region

By EDITH M. LEDERER
Associated Press

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The United States is warning that the string of military takeovers in Africa’s Sahel region will hamper the fight against terrorism. It is also demanding that Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers deny safe haven to terrorist groups including al-Qaida and the Islamic State. U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield told a U.N. Security Council meeting Friday that the United States is focused on the increasing terrorism threat across Africa and continues providing its African partners with “critical assistance in disrupting and degrading” IS and al-Qaida affiliates. She was asked about the future of Russia’s Wagner mercenary group, which has been active in military-ruled Mali and Burkina Faso, after the presumed death of its leader. She called Wagner’s actions in Africa “destabilizing.”