United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said the US would provide an additional $45m to Nigeria and a few other West African nations.
Gatekeepers News reports that the $45m is part of a plan to battle instability, bringing total funding under the year-old programme to nearly $300m.
According to reports by AFP and Reuters.
In a four-nation tour of African democracies, Blinken met separately with President Bola Tinubu and Ivorian President Alassane Ouattara on Tuesday.
The trip was to discuss US-African partnerships over trade, climate, infrastructure, health, security and other issues. It follows a summit in Washington with African leaders in December 2022.
The United States Secretary of State sought progress combatting coups and extremism in West Africa in talks with two key leaders, as he pointed to Ivory Coast as a model.
According to reports by AFP, while in Abidjan, Blinken hailed Ivory Coast’s stand against last year’s coup in Niger and its approach of “building security together” by investing economically to combat extremism in northern areas bordering Mali and Burkina Faso.
He said, “I have to applaud the approach that’s been taken by Cote d’Ivoire – working with communities, listening to communities, making sure that their security forces understand the needs, the concerns of communities.
“I think that can serve as a very powerful model for other countries.
“We spent a lot of time discussing mutual security challenges,” he added, “We appreciate Ivory Coast’s leadership in the fight against extremism and violence.”
According to Reuters, Blinken said, “We have increased military training by 15 times and are investing in civil protection in Ivory Coast.”
He promised to boost cooperation on the ground with the Ivory Coast, largely through the training of its security forces.
