It is up to the residents of the Sahel region to maintain peace, Anna Evstigneeva, Russia's Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN, said at the Security Council briefing on the activities of the UN Office for West Africa and the Sahel.
"The main role in maintaining peace and security in the Sahara-Sahel region belongs to the people themselves. A good illustration here was the conclusion by Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso of the "Liptako-Gourma Charter" on mutual commitments in defense and counter-terrorism," she said on Friday.
She added that all this forms a "fundamentally new architecture" in the field of security and development. Russia will continue to provide assistance to the Sahel states on a bilateral and multilateral basis, including increasing the combat capability of the national armed forces and providing humanitarian aid.
"Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso are in the vanguard in the fight against trans-African terrorist groups, and they merit the support of the international community and, in particular, of African countries," she added.
At the end of June, Moscow expressed similar thoughts regarding another African country — Sudan — saying that forcing uniform solutions on Sudan regarding human rights and democracy is both unacceptable and ineffective.