US Secretary of State Antony Blinken pledged $45 million in new funding for security in West Africa while meeting the President of Ivory Coast in Abidjan on Tuesday.
The region has struggled with the rise of several terrorist groups in recent years including Jama’at Nusrat Al Islam wal Muslimin (JNIM), a group affiliated with Al Qaeda.
While the security threat remains most pressing in the Sahel, an area that covers thousands of square kilometres across northern Africa from the Atlantic Ocean to the Red Sea, it has begun to migrate south, affecting countries such as Ivory Coast, Benin and Togo.
Ivory Coast, site of one of West Africa’s most robust economies and governments, has become a significant US partner in combating terrorism in the region.
“Cote d'Ivoire [Ivory Coast] is an essential partner for us and for other countries in the region that are trying to move forward,” Mr Blinken said at the opulent Presidential Palace.
“We appreciate particularly the leadership shown by Cote d'Ivoire in countering extremism and violence.”
Since 2022, Washington has contributed nearly $300 million in “stability-focused assistance”, the US State Department said.
“The security of our region is difficult and we appreciate the US for all their support in countering terrorism,” Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara said.
Mr Ouattara has been outspoken in his opposition to last summer’s coup in Niger, when the military junta overthrew and jailed democratically elected President Mohamed Bazoum.
At one point Ivory Coast, along with its partners in the Economic Community of West African States, threatened military intervention.
“We noted and applauded the very important leadership of the President in other regional issues, particularly the very hard but important work of trying to return Niger to constitutional order,” Mr Blinken said.
Niger had been a crucial partner in the region’s fight against terrorism. The US still has about 1,000 soldiers in Niger and had invested heavily in counter terrorism training in the country.
Following the overthrow, which it took the State Department three months to officially label as a coup, Washington suspended their training programmes, cut aid and repositioned troops.
Mr Blinken travelled to Nigeria on Tuesday evening, where he met President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Foreign Minister Yusuf Tuggar.
Nigeria, the continent's largest country and economy is also grappling with the threat of terrorism and the recent coup in neighbouring Niger.
“We are intensely focused on challenges to security in the region, in the Sahel, intensely focused because of the impacts it's having on our friends and partners,” Mr Blinken said in Abuja.
The US Secretary of State is on a four-nation tour of West Africa, where he is trying to assert US leadership and promote American investment in the continent.
“We're here for a very simple reason – because America and Africa's futures, their peoples, their prosperity are linked and joined as never before,” he said.
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The design
The protective shell is covered in solar panels to make use of light and produce energy. This will drastically reduce energy loss.
More than 80 per cent of the energy consumed by the French pavilion will be produced by the sun.
The architecture will control light sources to provide a highly insulated and airtight building.
The forecourt is protected from the sun and the plants will refresh the inner spaces.
A micro water treatment plant will recycle used water to supply the irrigation for the plants and to flush the toilets. This will reduce the pavilion’s need for fresh water by 30 per cent.
Energy-saving equipment will be used for all lighting and projections.
Beyond its use for the expo, the pavilion will be easy to dismantle and reuse the material.
Some elements of the metal frame can be prefabricated in a factory.
From architects to sound technicians and construction companies, a group of experts from 10 companies have created the pavilion.
Work will begin in May; the first stone will be laid in Dubai in the second quarter of 2019.
Construction of the pavilion will take 17 months from May 2019 to September 2020.
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Milestones on the road to union
1970
October 26: Bahrain withdraws from a proposal to create a federation of nine with the seven Trucial States and Qatar.
December: Ahmed Al Suwaidi visits New York to discuss potential UN membership.
1971
March 1: Alex Douglas Hume, Conservative foreign secretary confirms that Britain will leave the Gulf and “strongly supports” the creation of a Union of Arab Emirates.
July 12: Historic meeting at which Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid make a binding agreement to create what will become the UAE.
July 18: It is announced that the UAE will be formed from six emirates, with a proposed constitution signed. RAK is not yet part of the agreement.
August 6: The fifth anniversary of Sheikh Zayed becoming Ruler of Abu Dhabi, with official celebrations deferred until later in the year.
August 15: Bahrain becomes independent.
September 3: Qatar becomes independent.
November 23-25: Meeting with Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid and senior British officials to fix December 2 as date of creation of the UAE.
November 29: At 5.30pm Iranian forces seize the Greater and Lesser Tunbs by force.
November 30: Despite a power sharing agreement, Tehran takes full control of Abu Musa.
November 31: UK officials visit all six participating Emirates to formally end the Trucial States treaties
December 2: 11am, Dubai. New Supreme Council formally elects Sheikh Zayed as President. Treaty of Friendship signed with the UK. 11.30am. Flag raising ceremony at Union House and Al Manhal Palace in Abu Dhabi witnessed by Sheikh Khalifa, then Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi.
December 6: Arab League formally admits the UAE. The first British Ambassador presents his credentials to Sheikh Zayed.
December 9: UAE joins the United Nations.
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