(Bloomberg) — US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will use his visit to four African nations next week to discuss economic development, health and security.

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The US is concerned about coastal West Africa as well as Nigeria because of recent coups and terrorist threat in the Sahel, Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Molly Phee said at a press conference Thursday.

“We’re really good at security assistance and we’re really good at going after terrorists, but if you neglect governance, economic development factors like climate change, you can’t really get it a durable solution,” she said. “So helping make sure that these countries are moving out on all fronts to strengthen their societies to prevent the expansion of the terrorist threat we see in the Sahel, that will be a part of the discussion.”

There have been eight successful military takeovers in the region since 2020, leaving countries such as Guinea, Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, Gabon and Chad under junta heads. Terrorist attacks by an Islamist insurgency in the Sahel, have aggravated the security situation. The US is also concerned about tensions between Rwanda and the Congo, Phee said.

Blinken will travel to Cape Verde, Ivory Coast, Nigeria and Angola from Jan. 21 to 26. In Ivory Coast talks will focus on governance in West Africa and shift to building pharmaceutical manufacturing capabilities in Nigeria, Phee said. In Cape Verde and Angola, the discussions would be around ports and rail infrastructure, she said.

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