GROWING concerns about the fact that increasing security threats in The Sahel might get out of hand if resources are not pooled led the European Union (EU) to map out a strategy for security and development in the region.The strategy aims at helping the states most prone to terrorism in The Sahel - Mauritania, Mali, Niger and Nigeria - in building capacity and also to ensure that free arms in the area as a result of the Libyan conflict do not get into the wrong hands or are not used to weaken state institutions that should support trans-national action against terrorism.Briefing the media at the EU House in Abuja on the imperatives of the strategy, visiting EU Coordinator to The Sahel Strategy on Security and Development, Manuel Lopez Blanco, said at the weekend that unlike the EU strategy in Afghanistan, what had been worked out, The Sahel action plan revolved around development, good governance as well as internal conflict resolution.Blanco who was flanked by the Head of the EU delegation in Nigeria, David MacRae,as wellas the officer in chargeof security for the EU, Gilles De Kerkhove, however noted that the EU did not pretend to bring straight solutions but 'want to support solutions.'According to him, the security strategy is geared towards 'strengthening the capacities of the security, law enforcement and the rule of law sectors to fight threats and handle terrorism and organised crime in a more efficient and socialised manner and link them to measures of good governance in order to ensure state control.'On October 3 this year, The Guardian had exclusively published a feature article on the terror cells in The Sahel threatening Nigeria. In that story, diplomatic and security experts warned thatNigeria now needs to be a central element, not an outlier in efforts to improve security beyond its northern fringe - The Sahel.The EU's cooperation strategy is coming on the heels of moves being made by the Reinforcement Cooperation for Joint Military Staff in Tamanrasset, South of Algeria, the Unit for Intelligencesharing also in Algiers as well as the United States (U.S.)-sponsored Global Counter Terrorism Forum (GCTF) launched in September this year with 28 countries including Nigeria on board.The Unit for Intelligence for instance, converges ministers of foreign affairs and security chiefs of states on The Sahel (including contiguous ones and the development partners). It has also now concluded arrangements to extend its membership to Chad, Burkina Faso, Senegal and Nigeria.The Sahel is one of the poorest regions in the world. It faces simultaneously the challenges of extreme poverty, the effects of climate change, frequent food crisis, rapid population growth, fragile governance, corruption, unresolved internal tensions, the risk of violent extremism, and radicalisation, illicit trafficking and terrorist-linked security threats.The strategy for security and development unveiled by the EU in Abuja is based on four themes hinged on the following that:' security and development in The Sahel cannot be separated and that helping these countries to achieve security is integral to enabling their economies to grow and poverty reduced.
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