First, we remain concerned by the deteriorating security and humanitarian situation across West Africa and the Sahel.\u00a0<\/p>\n
We condemn the recent coordinated attacks in Mali, which demonstrate an alarming increase in the sophistication, coordination, and reach of terrorist and armed groups in the country.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In addition, humanitarian needs across the region remain severe.\u00a0<\/p>\n
As the Special Representative set out, approximately 6.8million people remain displaced in the Sahel.\u00a0<\/p>\n
We call for the full, safe, rapid, and unhindered humanitarian access to those in need.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The United Kingdom is supporting efforts through $232 million of assistance throughout the region.<\/p>\n
Second,\u00a0we welcome the peaceful conduct of elections in Benin, Cabo Verde, C\u00f4te d\u2019Ivoire, and Guinea.\u00a0<\/p>\n
However, we remain concerned about the lack of opposition participation, the shrinking of political and civic space, and the concentration of executive authority in parts of the region.<\/p>\n
Inclusive political processes, accountable institutions, and credible elections are essential to long-term stability.\u00a0<\/p>\n
We encourage all actors to work with UNOWAS to support dialogue, uphold constitutional governance, and ensure transparent and inclusive political processes.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Third,\u00a0we welcome efforts to strengthen cooperation between ECOWAS and the Alliance of Sahel States (AES), including ECOWAS\u2019s appointment of a Chief Negotiator to help restore dialogue.<\/p>\n
We encourage continued engagement to rebuild trust and address shared challenges.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Enhanced cooperation on counterterrorism, border management and organised crime is critical to improving regional security and stability.<\/p>\n
To conclude, President, the United Kingdom remains committed to working closely with UNOWAS and regional partners to support peace, stability, and prosperity across West Africa and the Sahel.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"First, we remain concerned by the deteriorating security and humanitarian situation across West Africa and the Sahel.\u00a0 We…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":294292,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-691484","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-gb","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-news","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/691484","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=691484"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/691484\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/294292"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=691484"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=691484"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=691484"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}