Antony Blinken welcomes Ivory Coast’s approach against jihadism

(Abuja) American Secretary of State Antony Blinken welcomed Tuesday in Abidjan the Ivorian approach in the fight against jihadism which is hitting several West African countries, before arriving in Nigeria for the penultimate stop on a tour of the continent.

“I must applaud Côte d’Ivoire’s approach: working with communities, listening to them, ensuring that security forces understand their needs, their concerns,” declared the head of American diplomacy during a press briefing alongside President Alassane Ouattara. “I think this can serve as a very strong model for other countries,” he added.

Bordering Mali and Burkina, Côte d’Ivoire has so far succeeded in stemming the jihadist threat, by combining a security and economic development approach. The last incident linked to these armed groups in the north of the country dates back to early 2021.

Antony Blinken also announced that American-Ivorian cooperation would be strengthened, particularly in the training of troops. Some $45 million will be added to a $300 million program aimed at helping West African countries fight insecurity.

Alassane Ouattara, for his part, spoke of “a convergence of views on the continental situation” in a West African region which has “a lot of difficulties with the coups d’état in a certain number of countries neighboring Ivory Coast”.

“We agree that these countries must move as quickly as possible towards democratic regimes,” he said.

Ivory Coast is one of the strong voices in West Africa against the military coups which have multiplied there over the last three years, in Mali, Guinea, Burkina and Niger.

Antony Blinken continued his African tour on Tuesday with a visit to Nigeria, another important partner of the United States in a region where more and more countries are turning away from the West, in favor of China or Russia.

He will then travel to Angola.

On his arrival in Abuja, Antony Blinken met President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, elected last year on a program of economic and security measures for the most populous country on the continent and the largest economy in Africa.

Nigeria, plagued by massive attacks by criminal and jihadist groups, however, is unlikely to garner the same praise as Ivory Coast for its nuanced approach to extremism.

Alongside the United States

The United States nevertheless welcomed President Tinubu’s call for an investigation after a Nigerian army drone attack in December accidentally killed at least 85 villagers celebrating a Muslim holiday.

The jihadist conflict that has raged for nearly 15 years in northeastern Nigeria has left more than 40,000 dead and 2 million displaced.

Nigeria and the Ivory Coast largely stand with the United States – as does another key partner, Kenya – despite much of the continent’s unease over the West’s desire to arm Ukraine and , more recently, in the face of American support for Israel in its war against Hamas.

Their position contrasts with another heavyweight on the continent, South Africa, accused by the United States of authorizing arms shipments to Russia and which recently annoyed Washington by bringing an accusation of genocide against Israel before the International Court of Justice.

Antony Blinken began his visit on Monday with a brief stop in Cape Verde where he notably visited the port of Praia, the capital, the expansion of which was financed by American aid.

President Joe Biden received African leaders in 2022 to demonstrate renewed American attention to the continent. He had promised to visit Africa in 2023, but did not follow through on this commitment.

Mr. Blinken, however, echoed Mr. Biden’s words to say: “We are going all out on Africa.” This is Mr. Blinken’s first visit to sub-Saharan Africa since March 2023.