Blinken announces $150m aid to Sahel region on a rare Niger visit
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken (left) speaks on March 16, 2023 during a joint press conference with Nigerien Foreign Minister Hassoumi Massoudou at the presidential palace in Niamey, Niger. PHOTO | BOUREIMA HAMA | POOL | AFP
The United States (US) Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday offered new aid to the Sahel region as he threw his support behind Niger on a rare visit, holding up the Western military partner and its new democracy as a model in a militia-torn region.
Blinken is the highest-ranking US official ever to visit the former French colony, where both France and the US maintain forces to battle insurgencies in the troubled Sahel region.
