Malian President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita on Saturday inaugurated the headquarters for a planned five-nation force to combat jihadists in the Sahel region, officials who attended the ceremony said.
The HQ is located in central Mali at Sevare, about 10km east of Mopti, in a region that has been hit by a wave of terror attacks in recent months.
The five-battalion, 5,000-strong force, decided at a summit in Bamako on July 2, is to comprise troops from Niger, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Burkina Faso.
It has an annual budget of about $496m a year, although so far only about $127m has been pledged. The participating countries rank among the poorest nations in the world.
The first battalion to be operational this month, and in October "cross-border operations will take place in the tri-frontier zone" shared by Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso.
France, which has 4,000 troops serving across the Sahel region with a counter-terror mandate, is a major backer of the initiative.
French President Emmanuel Macron has been pitching for support from other European nations, especially Germany.
