Rabat, April 28, 2025 (AFP) – The foreign ministers of Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger reaffirmed on Monday in Rabat their commitment to « accelerating » the initiative proposed by Morocco to provide Sahel countries with access to the Atlantic Ocean, according to the Moroccan news agency.
King Mohammed VI of Morocco received Niger’s Foreign Minister Bakary Yaou Sangaré, Mali’s Foreign Minister Abdoulaye Diop, and Burkina Faso’s Foreign Minister Karamoko Jean Marie Traoré at the royal palace, in a meeting described as being “within the framework of the strong relations” between the kingdom and the three Sahel countries, according to MAP.
During the meeting, the three ministers welcomed the initiative proposed by Morocco to facilitate access to the Atlantic Ocean, « reaffirming their full support and commitment to accelerating its implementation, » the same source reported.
Mohammed VI announced the project in a speech in 2023. The Atlantic coast in question borders the disputed territory of Western Sahara, which has been claimed for 50 years by the Polisario independence movement, backed by Algeria.
No timeline has yet been announced for the implementation of this initiative, which is expected to primarily take the form of a road network.
The three Sahel countries, landlocked and without sea access, formed the Sahel States Alliance (AES), a framework for integration and coordination.
These countries are currently led by military regimes that came to power through coups between 2020 and 2023, and have turned away from their former colonial power, France, in favor of closer ties with Russia.
This initiative comes “at a time when each of our countries was in a kind of political and economic confinement, and we were suffering from the pressure of isolation,” one of the ministers said.
Source: Marine Oceans
