UN General Assembly
2016

But there will be no development in Africa unless the continent’s security is ensured. When I committed France to acting in Mali, it did so with an awareness of its responsibility. We had to prevent terrorist groups from taking over an entire country and destabilizing an entire region. Today, that threat has been rolled back and Mali is regaining its territorial integrity. But other groups, including Boko Haram and Al-Qaida, are emerging to threaten the security of many countries in West Africa, the Sahel and the Lake Chad region. There too, France is supporting military forces with training, information-sharing and assistance in the fight against terrorism. We are doing so, for instance, in the Niger, Nigeria, Chad, Benin and Cameroon. We should expand such efforts along with the United Nations and the African Union.