Washington DC, September 30, 2024

Dear colleagues,

Taking the floor in my turn, I would like to welcome the holding of this ministerial meeting of the Coalition, which enables us to assess the level of effectiveness of the international mobilisation against the Islamic State. After being weakened in Iraq and Syria and deprived of its initial territorial base, the IS quickly metamorphosed and moved on to other regions of the world, notably in the Sahel, West Africa and the Horn of Africa, where it found dangerous relays working to perpetuate its destabilising impact on international peace and security . 

The Islamic State poses a challenge to our collective security, and the international commitment to defeating it under our coalition must be the same wherever the evil is present, because we would be mistaken in our strategy if we focused our attention and resources on a single region while the IS is spreading to other parts of the world through a game of alliances in the service of terror. 

By joining the Coalition in 2023, Togo was convinced that it would become part of a transnational and international platform for action that would be more effective in defeating the Islamic State. 

Togo’s conviction remains the same, and that is why I would like to welcome the work of the Coalition’s Africa Focus Group and its Action Plan, which focuses on strengthening cross-border security through joint initiatives and the use of biometric technologies, reinforcing community resilience, combating mass disinformation, the recruitment of extremist fighters, the financing of terrorism and the proliferation of non-state armed groups. 

Togo, whose northern region has suffered sporadic terrorist attacks over the past three years, is fighting back internally against attempts at destabilisation, and I remain convinced that if the fight against the Islamic State and international terrorism in my region of West Africa and the Sahel is to fulfil its promises, it will require greater coherence and, above all, more transparency in international strategies.  

There is a significant proportion of the population in our regions who are now convinced that some of our partners are not playing fair in their cooperation against international terrorism. This undermines the legitimacy of the fight and should lead our partners not to lose sight of the principles of precaution, prudence, transparency and responsibility in their interventions in Africa. 

To conclude, I would like to urge you to consider the countries of the Alliance of Sahel States as indispensable partners in the fight against the Islamic State and international terrorism in Africa.

We cannot be effective in the fight against the IS in West Africa and the Sahel without involving Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso in our strategies, despite the geopolitical transitions underway. 

Thank you for your attention.