Blinken looks to bolster West African security partnerships after setbacks

– This week during his visit to the Ivorian capital Abidjan, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken pledged $45m to boost coastal West African security, extending funding of an ongoing programme in the region to $300m.

Blinken, who also praised counterinsurgency measures by the Ivorian military in warding off armed groups despite being wedged between Mali and Burkina Faso, hotspots for violence in the Sahel, then jetted off to Abuja.

There, he met Bola Tinubu, Nigeria’s president and chair of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), as part of a four-nation tour that also includes Angola and Cape Verde.

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