Summary
France is facing a tough diplomatic battle to convince the United States to lend U.N. support to a counter-terrorism force for Africa's Sahel region, where insurgents have killed U.N. peacekeepers and U.S. soldiers.
France wants donors to step up, but is also looking to the United Nations to offer logistic and financial support to the joint force -- which is set to begin operations in the coming days.
The United States however is adamant that while it is ready to provide bilateral funding, there should be no U.N. support for the force.
Guterres has laid out four options for U.N. support, from setting up a U.N. office for the Sahel to sharing resources from the large UN mission in Mali.
The United States is the U.N.'s biggest financial contributor.
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