UNITED NATIONS, May 26 -- A Chinese envoy to the United Nations on Thursday called on the international community to comprehensively promote counter-terrorism cooperation in the Sahel region of Africa where the situation remains volatile as a result of terrorism.
"With a generally stable situation, security conditions in the Sahel region are still fragile with the spread of terrorism and trans-national criminal activities," Wu Haitao, China's deputy permanent representative to the world body, said at a Security Council meeting.
The envoy stressed that the international community should attach importance to the threat of terrorism to the region and increase investment to fight terrorism.
"The international community should support the counter-terrorism efforts of the countries in the region and in particular, should help them strengthen capacity building in a comprehensive manner according to their specific security needs," Wu said.
He called on the related U.N. agencies to enhance coordination, so that targeted training and technological assistance can be provided to the countries in the Sahel region, a dividing belt with the Sahara desert to the north and the Sudanese Savanna to the south.
Wu also said the international community should actively promote the solution of hot-button issues in the region, urging support to the relevant parties in Mali for comprehensive implementation of a peace and reconciliation agreement signed in June 2015.
On development, he noted that countries in the Sahel region should take the opportunity of the implementation of the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda and decide their own development agenda and strategies adapted to their national conditions.
Jean-Paul Laborde, executive director of the U.N. Security Council Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate, told the meeting that while concerted actions by the region's countries has weakened Boko Haram, the extremist group continues to affect the civilian population.
Calling terrorism a complex and constantly evolving threat, Laborde stressed that the United Nations must ensure that perpetrators of terrorism be punished.
According to a U.N. report, the security situation in the Sahel region remains volatile. Of particular concern are the situations in Libya and Mali, and the terrorist threat posed by Boko Haram and other terrorist groups.
Statistics show that the activities of the Nigeria-based Boko Haram has displaced more than 2.5 million people, including an estimated 1.4 million children and 200,000 refugees in Cameroon, Chad and Niger.
