By AFP

More by this Author

A two-day African security forum opened in Dakar on Monday amid concerns about funding for a much-trumpeted initiative to bind five Sahel countries into an anti-terror force.

Less than a quarter of the roughly $455 million pledged for the G5 Sahel force has been forthcoming, French Defence minister Florence Parly said on Sunday.

"At the moment, (pledges) are materialising very slowly," Ms Parly told reporters in the plane taking her to Dakar.

Only "10 to 25 percent of the funds" have been disbursed, she said.

Restore authority

The G5 Sahel is a French-backed scheme conceived in 2015 to roll back jihadism and lawlessness in five states on the Sahara's southern rim.

Bringing together Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger, it aims to become a 5,000-man joint force to restore authority in areas grappling with jihadists and brutal gangs.

But the project, which brings together five of the world's poorest and most fragile countries, has run into problems of financing, poor equipment and lack of training.

In February, an international donors' conference in Brussels pledged about $478 million. Saudi Arabia made the biggest single promise, totalling 100 million euros in the form of equipment, but it has yet to be delivered, Ms Parly said.

Politically stable

The Dakar International Forum on Peace and Security, launched in 2013, is a French-supported initiative gathering several hundred political leaders, military officials, international organisations and think tanks, mainly from West Africa and Europe.

It was opened on Monday by Senegalese President Macky Sall. French Foreign minister Jean-Yves Drian is expected for the final day on Tuesday.

President Sall, whose country is one of the most politically stable in Africa, said that "strong and resilient states" were the key to lasting security.

"When the state is weakened, it loses its role as a protector, the trust of its people and its partners," Sall said in an opening speech.