The five countries providing soldiers for a regional force will be there along with the African Union and the European Union.

President Emmanuel Macron fears Islamist militants have scored military and symbolic victories in West Africa while a regional military force has struggled to get off the ground.

So far the so-called G5 Sahel force incorporating Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger is not being more effective than thousands of U.N. peacekeepers, French troops and U.S. military trainers and drones  in stemming  a growing wave of jihadist violence.

Macron said on his three-nation safari last week

it’s urgent to reverse this trend by accelerating support of the force, and its operational calendar.

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