Moroccan FM Hosts Malian Counterpart as Tensions Continue in the Sahel

Denver- Foreign Minister Bourita hosted Malian FM Abdoulaye Diop in Rabat Monday to discuss vital issues currently impacting both countries. 

Diop and Bourita met to discuss bilateral relations and the increasingly worrying regional security situation in the Sahel. The two diplomats meet one month after two Moroccan drivers were killed by armed assailants less than 200 miles north of the Malian capital. 

The attack was met with outrage in Morocco and many Moroccans raised questions over the safety of international workers operating in the country. 

Morocco, which has consistently warned of the potential of jihadists groups using the Sahel as a potential training and operational area, also discussed the recent situation of the French withdrawal from the area. 

France’s decision to end its seven-year security operation Barkhane was met with protests from Malian officials. After Mali’s Prime Minister Choguel Maiga labeled the withdrawal an “abandonment,” relations between Paris and Bamako have deteriorated as French officials called Maiga’s comments “unacceptable.”

Amid recent reports of diverging interests, French officials have angrily reacted to Mali’s decision to employ the Russian Private Military Company Wagner Group to replace French forces pending their withdrawal. 

Wagner is a controversial Russian mercenary group that was previously employed in combat operations in Syria alongside the Bashar al-Assad regime and in Libya in support of Marshall Khalifa Haftar’s forces. 

Despite French protests, countries in the Sahel are continuing to struggle to contain the various extremist groups operating with virtual impunity within the Sahel. The UN Security Council is planning to meet this month to discuss Mali’s ongoing security situation. 

In addition to addressing the presence of armed extremist groups, officials will also discuss ways to address more structural issues like “underdevelopment, poor governance, [and] climate change” that have contributed to the deteriorating security situation in the Sahel.