UNITED NATIONS: The United Nations is seeking to put human rights advisers and monitors into the 5,000-troop African force that is charged with fighting extremists in western Africa’s vast Sahel region.
Assistant Secretary-General Andrew Gilmour, the deputy human rights chief who recently visited Mali, told several reporters Friday that he told senior military officials from the five troop-contributing countries that protecting human rights “can help unlock” funding for the force.
The five nations — Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso, Mauritania and Chad — have been grappling with a growing menace from extremists, including the Daesh group, Boko Haram and groups linked to Al-Qaeda’s North Africa branch.
Gilmour said his office is preparing proposals for the force on protecting human rights which it hopes to send in the next few days.
UN seeks to put human rights experts into new Sahel force
UN seeks to put human rights experts into new Sahel force
