A Chinese envoy on Friday asked for more international efforts to help the Sahel region fight terrorism and address the root causes of regional instability.

Zhang Jun, China's permanent representative to the United Nations, asked for continued efforts to support the political settlement of regional issues.

China has always supported the idea of finding solutions to African issues in the African way, and sincerely hopes that the international community will continue to respect the political will of the people in the Sahel region, respect the sovereignty of the countries in the region, and support the important role played by regional organizations like the African Union, he told the Security Council.

Zhang asked for continued efforts to tackle the challenges posed by terrorism and organized crime in the Sahel.

The joint military force of five Sahel countries has played a very important role; China supports the UN peacekeeping mission in Mali in providing logistical support to the joint force within its mandate, and also supports the idea of modifying the mandate of the peacekeeping mission and of providing necessary financial support in this regard, he said.

UN agencies should also provide support for the Sahel countries and African countries at large in capacity building in their fight against terrorism, he said.

Zhang asked the international community to invest more efforts in addressing the root causes of regional instability, saying under-development is a major impediment and that China sincerely hopes the international community can invest more resources in this regard to help Sahel countries and African countries to eliminate poverty, improve health care, education and employment.

He also asked the international community to help the Sahel region and the whole African continent cope with COVID-19.