(Adnkronos) – Coup and insurgency-hit sub-Saharan Africa is “a cause for concern”, Italy’s foreign minister Antonio Tajani said Monday after Mali was left reeling from a string of weekend attack by jihadists and separatist rebels, who seized several towns and military bases and killed the defence minister and intelligence chief.
“The whole of sub-Saharan Africa is a cause for concern,” Tajani told reporters on the sidelines of an Italy-Mercosur business forum in the Italian capital.
“We are organising an event in Rome to talk with all these countries, which are of great importance to us for the stability of the continent and the fight against illegal migration and terrorism,” Tajani stated.
Mali, where two military coups have taken place since 2020, has long battled militants linked to al-Qaida and Islamic State as well as a separatist rebellion in the north.
Seven countries in impoverished Sub-Saharan Africa are currently under military rule, with terrorism-hit Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger in the Sahel region heading the list.
