The military-led governments of Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger have thrown their support behind a Moroccan initiative to provide them access to global trade through Atlantic ports, Morocco’s state news agency has reported.
During a visit to Rabat on Monday, the foreign ministers of the three West African nations met with Morocco’s King Mohammed VI, where they endorsed the initiative, which aims to help the landlocked countries diversify their maritime access and boost economic ties.
“This initiative supports the diversification of our access to the sea,” Mali’s Foreign Minister Abdoulaye Diop told state media.
The countries—collectively known as the Confederation of Sahel States (AES)—withdrew from the regional bloc ECOWAS last year following a series of military coups and growing tensions over sanctions. Since then, they have increasingly turned toward Russia for military cooperation while cutting ties with former Western allies.
Morocco launched the Atlantic trade corridor proposal in November 2023, shortly after ECOWAS imposed trade restrictions on the three nations. Rabat, which maintains major financial and agricultural investments across West Africa, has pitched the plan as a strategic opportunity for economic development and regional integration.
Morocco’s state news agency described Monday’s meeting as a reflection of “the strong and longstanding relations of the Kingdom with the three brotherly countries of the Alliance of Sahel States.”
The visit also comes amid deteriorating relations between the AES and Algeria, a rival of Morocco. Algeria supports the Polisario Front’s push for independence in Western Sahara—a region Morocco claims and where it is currently constructing a $1 billion Atlantic port to strengthen its trade infrastructure.
In a related development, Morocco in December facilitated the release of four French operatives detained in Burkina Faso, five months after France officially recognised Morocco’s sovereignty over Western Sahara.
