France to invest $42 million in securing the Sahel region

France says it will invest nearly 50 million dollars in anti-terror efforts in Africa's Sahel region. The investment period is between 2017 and 2022. The targeted countries in the Sahel region include Chad, Niger, Burkina Faso, Mali and Mauritania. The Sahel, is generally a politically fragile region, whose remote desert area holds various jihadist groups. It is seen as being vulnerable after recent terror attacks in Mali, Burkina Faso and Cote d'Ivoire. France retains a military presence in Senegal with 350 soldiers. A much larger force of 3,500 is spread across Chad, Mauritania, Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso