Chad's President, Idriss Deby, called for greater aid to support the fight against terrorism in the Sahel as he opened a two-day summit between five nations and France.
Mr Deby said the Sahel was struggling with "poverty, which is fertile ground for terrorism", and urged the international community to increase funding for development to deprive extremists of the chance to recruit disaffected young people.
The summit in Chad's capital N'Djamena brings together the G5 Sahel of Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger.
Also present is key ally France, with President Emmanuel Macron joining by video link.
Last year, France increased its Operation Barkhane presence in the Sahel from 4,500 troops to 5,100, in a move that led to some military success.
French forces killed the leader of Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, Abdelmalek Droukdel, and a military chief of the Al Qaeda-affiliated Group to Support Islam and Muslims.
But attacks in December and January brought the number of French combat deaths in Mali to 50, prompting questions about the cost and effectiveness of Barkhane.
Mr Macron last month opened the door to a reduction in troop numbers, suggesting France might "adjust" its commitment.
The country is hoping for more military support from its European partners to lighten the load.
Thousands of soldiers and civilians have been killed, the UN said, while more than two million people have fled their homes.
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
Museum of the Future in numbers
- 78 metres is the height of the museum
- 30,000 square metres is its total area
- 17,000 square metres is the length of the stainless steel facade
- 14 kilometres is the length of LED lights used on the facade
- 1,024 individual pieces make up the exterior
- 7 floors in all, with one for administrative offices
- 2,400 diagonally intersecting steel members frame the torus shape
- 100 species of trees and plants dot the gardens
- Dh145 is the price of a ticket
Our legal columnist
Name: Yousef Al Bahar
Advocate at Al Bahar & Associate Advocates and Legal Consultants, established in 1994
Education: Mr Al Bahar was born in 1979 and graduated in 2008 from the Judicial Institute. He took after his father, who was one of the first Emirati lawyers
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Learn more about Qasr Al Hosn
In 2013, The National's History Project went beyond the walls to see what life was like living in Abu Dhabi's fabled fort:
