French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius has asked Jean Felix-Paganon,  his Special Representative for the Sahel, to submit an action plan for the Sahel region, which is faced with terrorist threat, French Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Bernard Valero said Tuesday. Speaking a press briefing in Paris, Mr. Valero stressed his country's commitment to security, stability and development in the Sahel.

He said France was working to mobilise the European Union and the UN Security Council, and that the European country support the efforts made by ECOWAS in bringing stability to the Sahel region.

The spokesman also said that France’s Special Representative for the Sahel Monday in Bamako met with Malian Prime Minister Cheick Modibo Diarra, to whom he delivered a message from Mr. Fabius.

'Mr. Felix-Paganon is also billed to travel in the coming days to several other countries of the Sahel,' he said.

Six French hostages are being held by Islamist groups operating in the Sahel, a region also faced with organised crime. Under bilateral agreements signed with Burkina Faso, Niger and Mauritania, Paris has troops in the Sahel in a bid to train national armies in combating terrorists and gathering information.