Ivory Coast Losing US Aid as al-Qaeda, Other Extremist Groups Approaching

Locals Worry They've Been Abandoned

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KIMBIRILA-NORD (IVORY COAST): With its tomato patches and grazing cattle, the Ivory Coast village of Kimbirila-Nord hardly looks like a front line of the global fight against extremism.

But after jihadis attacked a nearby community in Mali five years ago and set up a base in a forest straddling the border, the US committed to spending USD 20 million to counter the spread of al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group here and in dozens of other villages.

The Trump administration's sweeping foreign aid cuts mean that support is now gone, even as violence in Mali and other countries in the Sahel region south of the Sahara has reached record levels and sent tens of thousands of refugees streaming into northern Ivory Coast.

Locals worry they have been abandoned. Diplomats and aid officials said the termination of aid jeopardizes counterterrorism efforts and weakens US influence in a part of the world where some countries have turned to Russian mercenaries for help.