RABAT – Morocco will this month host a regional security conference on the 
Sahel and Maghreb countries, a Moroccan minister said Tuesday at a meeting in the Malian capital Bamako.
The MAP news agency cited Minister Delegate to the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation Mbarka Bouaida as saying the talks will take place on November 14.
No further details of the mooted conference were immediately available.
Bouaida was in Mali for the first ministerial meeting on an integrated UN strategy for Sahel nations, MAP said.
UN chief Ban Ki-Moon, in Bamako on Tuesday, vowed to help the people of the poor and conflict-scarred region.
“The international community stands with the people of the Sahel,” he said.
“We need an approach that breaks down institutional barriers and joins up political, security, development and humanitarian efforts throughout the region.”
Eleven million of the 80 million people living in Sahel states lack sufficient food, the region has had three severe droughts in a decade and Ban noted that it is awash with weapons and has seen “horrendous violations of human rights”.
The European Union and the World Bank on Monday pledged more than $8 billion (six billion euros) in fresh aid for Sahel countries.
