On Thursday, the foreign ministers of Burkina Faso, Guinea, and Mali, all of which are currently ruled by military juntas, announced their commitment to a new regional partnership. The objective of the partnership is to encourage trade and tackle security challenges in the region.
The ministers met in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, to discuss the collaboration, which will be known as the Bamako-Conakry-Ouagadougou link. The partnership will focus on various areas including fuel and electricity exchanges, transport links, mineral resource extraction, rural development, and trade. The ministers also emphasized the need to establish a permanent coordination framework between the three countries.
The partnership will also mobilize resources for a railway network linking the capital cities and centralize the fight against insecurity. Burkina Faso interim President, Ibrahim Traore, has asked his government to implement the plan.
The spread of jihadist groups linked to Al Qaeda and the Islamic State in the Sahel region over the past decade has caused thousands of deaths and displacement of millions of people. The military takeovers in the region have raised concerns among Western powers such as France, which has pulled its troops out of Mali and has also been told to leave Burkina Faso.
All three countries have been suspended from ECOWAS and the Africa Union for not restoring constitutional order quickly enough. The three ministers called for technical and financial support for their democratic transitions and deplored the sanctions imposed on their countries. The proposed partnership aims to address the ongoing security and economic challenges in the region.