They want to make the Bamako-Conakry-Wagadougou axis a “strategic and priority area”. The foreign ministers of Mali, Guinea, and Burkina Faso met in Ouagadougou on Thursday 9 February for an unprecedented “trilateral meeting”. Mali, Guinea and Burkina Faso are suspended by African Union and ECOWAS bodies. By demonstrating their “commitment to the principles and goals” of the continental and regional organizations, the three countries demonstrate their own common agenda.
Abdoulaye Diop, Morissanda Kouyaté, and Olivia Rouamba, the Foreign Ministers of Mali, Guinea, and Burkina Faso, announce a long list of joint projects: on the supply of hydrocarbons and electricity, on the development of trade and transport from the port of Conakry, on the common organization of mining, on the construction of a railway line linking their three capitals, or even on the construction of new roads.
The list, which is not exhaustive, is bound to be tempting. Baba Dakono is Executive Secretary of the Citizen Observatory on Governance and Security in Bamako (OCGS):
“It is true that this is an extremely ambitious program, which also bears interesting similarities to the G5 Sahel’s priority investment program. It is not new recognize that investments in infrastructure and trade routes were also a means of responding to the security crisis. In the current situation, endogenous financing of these various activities will be difficult. In addition, these countries expect technical and financial support for the implementation of this ambitious program. »