APRNEWS - A two-day African security forum was set to open in Dakar on Monday amid concerns about funding for a much-trumpeted initiative to bind five Sahel countries into an anti-terror force.

APRNEWS - On the second day of his visit to Mali, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Wednesday travelled to Mopti, where he visited the G5 Sahel Force Base in Sevare.

He made a strong appeal for more predictable financial support to the regional force tackling terrorist threats in the region.

FRANCE24 - A former Burkina Faso soldier may have participated in Friday's simultaneous attacks by al Qaeda-linked extremists on the army headquarters and heavily-guarded French Embassy in the capital, Ouagadougou.