Greater response needed to worsening West African violence - U.N. head

Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta and United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres attend the opening session of the African Regional High-Level Conference on Counter-Terrorism and Prevention of Violent Extremism Conducive to Terrorism at the United Nations Complex, within Gigiri, Nairobi, Kenya July 10, 2019. Presidential Press Service/Handout via REUTERS

NAIROBI (Reuters) - Islamist attacks are spreading so fast in West Africa that the region should consider bolstering its response beyond current military efforts, and donors should back such a move, the head of the United Nations said on Wednesday.

Groups with links to al Qaeda and Islamic State have strengthened their foothold across the arid Sahel this year, making large swathes of territory ungovernable and stoking local ethnic violence, especially in Mali and Burkina Faso.