DW –Heads of state from West Africa and France will gather in the French town of Pau to find new strategies against jihadists in the Sahel. But resistance to the presence of French troops in the African region is growing.At least 25 soldiers and dozens of jihadists were killed by suspected Islamic militants on Thursday during an attack on a military camp in the western Niger town of Chinagodrar near the border with Mali.

Earlier in the day, 20 people were injured in northern Mali’s restive Kidal region, including 18 UN peacekeepers from Chad, in a rocket attack on a military base for UN, French and Malian forces. Six of the peacekeepers from the MINUSMA mission were seriously wounded by the attack on the base in the town of Tessalit.

The attacks happened just days before French President Emmanuel Macron hosts a summit of Sahel G5 leaders from Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso, Mauritania and Chad.Next week’s three-hour meeting in the French city of Pau is due to focus on the fight against terrorism in Africa’s Sahel region.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, EU Council President Charles Michel and the President of the African Union Moussa Faki have also been invited to the working lunch.

Stability in the Sahel is also important for Europe

The goal of the Pau summit was to adopt a new, common strategy for military missions in West Africa. French troops have been stationed in West Africa since 2014 under the military Operation Barkhane. The five states on the southern edge of the Sahara founded their own joint reaction force in 2018 with 5,000 soldiers from all five countries.

The United Nations is also in Mali with its MINUSMA mission. But the lack of coordination, frequent fatal accidents and attacks has shaken trust in the mission.”Despite all military efforts that have been put in, more is needed to tackle the problem of jihadist terrorism in the Sahel,” said Paul Melly, a West Africa expert at the London-based think tank Chatham House.

“Essentially everybody, the governments of Sahel, governments of West Africa more generally and international partners [France, Germany, the EU, the UN] recognize that.”Mohamed Ibn Chambas, the United Nations envoy for West Africa and the Sahel. told the UN Security Council on Wednesday that the region has experienced ” a devastating surge in terrorist attacks against civilian and military targets” in recent months. Chambas said the “unprecedented terrorist violence” has shaken public confidence.