According to AFP, United States Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, has stated that the US would disburse extra $45m to West African countries as part of a plan to tackle instability, bringing total funding under the year-old programme to nearly $300m.
Blinken in a four-nation tour of African democracies met separately with President Bola Tinubu and Ivorian President Alassane Ouattara.
The meeting aimed to discuss US-African partnerships over trade, climate, infrastructure, health, security and other issues. It happened after a summit in Washington with African leaders in December 2022.
Blinken wanted progress in combatting coups and extremism in West Africa during the meeting as he pointed to Ivory Coast as a model.
As reported by AFP, Blinken hailed Ivory Coast’s stand against the 2023 coup in Niger and its approach of “building security together” by investing economically to tackle extremism in northern areas bordering Mali and Burkina Faso.
“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,” Blinken said alongside Ouattara.
He added: “I think that can serve as a very powerful model for other countries. We spent a lot of time discussing mutual security challenges. We appreciate Ivory Coast’s leadership in the fight against extremism and violence.
“We have increased military training by 15 times and are investing in civil protection in Ivory Coast.”
Blinken pledged to boost cooperation on the ground with Ivory Coast, majorly through training of its security forces.
