The European Union and France on Thursday said their total investment in development funding aimed at preventing terrorism in African Sahel countries would rise to 1.3 billion euros ($1.5 billion), as the region struggles with jihadism and lawlessness.
The five Sahel states -- Mauritania, Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, and Niger -- have been struggling against extremism and lawlessness along the Sahara's southern rim since a jihadist revolt that began with a Tuareg separatist uprising in northern Mali in 2012.