Senegal seeks strong ties with military-ruled Mali, Burkina Faso

Newly elected Senegalese president Bassirou Faye started a regional visit with Mali and Burkina Faso in a bid to strengthen ties with neighbors that quit the regional bloc ECOWAS in protest over sanctions following their consecutive coups.

In Bamako, Faye held talks on the ECOWAS with Mali’s leader Col. Assimi Goita. Following the talks, he said “I understand Mali’s position, which, although rigid, is not totally inflexible.”

“But we think that, at least from my point of view, we must continue to work with all the parties involved. We must not be discouraged; we must find happy ways to strengthen integration,” he said.

Faye has promised that he would intercede with both Mali and Burkina Faso to negotiate their return to the regional grouping.

In Ouagadougou, Faye met junta leader Captain Ibrahim Traore in the capital, Ouagadougou.

“We also discussed the subject of ECOWAS; I understand today that the positions are somewhat fixed, but I perceive in each of these positions a window of opening that allows us to establish a thread of dialogue,” Faye said, according to the Burkinabe presidency’s communications department.

The spate of military coups that hit the Sahel were followed by anti-western positions and pro-Russian rhetoric backed by the activism of Russia’s Wagner.

Burkina Faso, Niger, and Mali, some of the most hit nations by the surge of terrorist activity have formed a military alliance.

Groups such as Islamic State (IS) continue to wage a violent campaign in the region, with annual deaths due to terrorist activity growing more than 2,000 percent between 2007 and 2022.

The Sahel now accounts for 43 percent of the world’s terrorism deaths—more than South Asia and the MENA region combined.