Morocco organized its first meeting with Mali, Burkina and Niger this weekend. The topic: the opening to the Atlantic Ocean and thus the opening of these Sahel countries. The foreign ministers of the four countries met in Marrakesh. The key is an economic alliance, but also a geopolitical one.
Published on: December 25, 2023 – 8:26 p.m
3 mins
With our correspondent in Rabat, Victor Mauriat
“Offering water means offering life”: with the words of Malian Foreign Minister Abdoulaye Diop in Marrakesh, he expressed the gratitude of the Sahel countries to the Moroccan initiative.
The countries of the Sahel are opening up by giving them access to the Atlantic Ocean, giving them access to the country's infrastructure, opening the doors to international trade: the promise of the Shereef Kingdom is beautiful, its partners are showing interest.
It is still necessary to concretely implement this initiative, which, according to the ministers involved, is still at the project stage.
In order for the Sahel states to benefit from the advantages of Morocco's opening to the Atlantic, numerous road and airport infrastructures are necessary.
If the Sahel countries confirm that they want to invest to respond to the Moroccan proposal, the deliberations are still at the beginning. The four ministers also agreed to set up a task force in each interested country to prepare and propose “the operational modalities for this initiative”…
However, if the economic plan still needs to be clarified, there is definitely good diplomatic communication.
Final communiqué approving the work of the Ministerial Coordination Meeting on the International Initiative of His Majesty King Mohammed VI. to promote access for the Sahel states to the Atlantic Ocean.
🔗https://t.co/3yO7SYfmSb pic.twitter.com/aIujjS8f87— Maroc Diplomacy 🇲🇦 (@MarocDiplomatie) December 23, 2023
“An initiative that contains a political and geopolitical dimension”
Researcher Youssef Chiheb, professor at Sorbonne Paris Nord University, analyzes these emerging geostrategic connections between Morocco and the countries of the Sahel as part of this Atlantic access initiative. “It is an initiative that has a purely political and then geopolitical dimension. Firstly, politically, it is part of the long and turbulent rivalry between Morocco and Algeria for leadership positions in Africa and particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, the Sahel and the Sahara. Second, try to occupy as much as possible the geostrategic gap created by the hasty withdrawal of French forces from Burkina Faso, Niger and Mali. Since nature abhors a vacuum, Morocco had its own idea, namely to reclaim these lands,” explains the researcher.
Morocco, despite everything that is happening and despite everything we hear, is a loyal ally of France and the Americans and under no circumstances will it allow the Russians to settle in Africa, knowing full well that they have nothing to offer Africa other than a new generation of looters. And so, Morocco, I won't say as far as the mandate is concerned, but Morocco had the blessing, the tacit green light from the Americans and Europeans, to shift the center of gravity of its troops from Africa towards the pure Atlantic. Especially because wealth is very important in this part of the Atlantic.
“Morocco, a loyal ally of France and the Americans, will under no circumstances allow the Russians to settle in Africa”
Victor Mauriat
“The world is moving towards the Pacific today. Africa has no chance of being present geopolitically and could be forgotten by these major changes, so the Atlantic remains. We go back to basics. Americans and Europeans have little or no interest in the Atlantic, so Morocco takes the opportunity to present these three principles: namely, the geopolitical isolation of Algeria; the Coalition of Maritime Francophone African Countries to Advance Atlantic Trade; and then the deployment of new desalination plant technology to be able to supply Africa with its most important needs over the next 20 years, which will take a long time,” concludes Youssef Chiheb.
Read alsoAlliance of the Sahel States: Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger want to strengthen their relations