United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday
said the US would provide an additional $45m to West African nations as 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 Tuesday with President Bola Tinubu and Ivorian President Alassane
Ouattara.
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.
Blinken sought progress combatting coups and extremism in
West Africa in talks with two key leaders, as he pointed to Ivory Coast as a
model.
AFP reports that 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.
“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.
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“I think that can
serve as a very powerful model for other countries,” he added.
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