Post-Gaddafi era casts shadow over Sahara-Sahel

[tabatha]

A complex mosaic of nations, tribes and militants is hampering strategies by African and Western nations to staunch the flow of weapons and fighters south from the civil war in Libya into the Sahara-Sahel region.

Libya’s civil war and the end of Muammar Gaddafi’s rule has pumped more weapons and men into an already volatile mix of local rebels, cross-border criminals and Islamists in the remote desert regions of Mali, Niger and Mauritania.

Diplomacy and military cooperation has made some progress towards intercepting arms and fighters but much needs to be done.

Pledges of help from Europe as well as the arrival of military aid from France and the United States ought to dovetail with a spate of meetings between presidents and foreign ministers from the region, including Algeria.

http://feb17.info/news/post-gaddafi-era-casts-shadow-over-sahara-sahel/#more-38766