“Defense ministers from West Africa’s arid Sahel region have agreed to work together to establish special rapid reaction forces to counter the growing threat from al Qaeda and Islamic State-linked militants. With its vast, loosely controlled desert expanses on the edge of the Sahara and its porous borders, the Sahel has proved to be fertile soil for the expansion of Islamist militancy in one of the world’s poorest regions.”
Source: West Africa’s Sahel nations to set up anti-Islamist units | Reuters