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Join on Telegram A major arena of geo-economic and geopolitical contestation, the Sahel region presents both challenges and opportunities for traditional great powers and emerging middle powers like Morocco, Turkey, India, UAE, and Qatar.
The USA, China, and Russia are competing for geopolitical dominance in Africa to replace or at least to tackle the European presence in the African continent. The three great powers are mostly interested in access to African countries’ seaports, strategic minerals, and growing consumer markets, making Africa and especially the Sahel a “crowded place” of various external actors – each having its own objective, mandate, area of deployment and security approach.
Nevertheless since 2020 the Sahel is governed by new leadership who made radical changes regarding the external alliances and foreign policy orientation; indicating a shift in the relations between European countries and the Sahel region. In Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, the junta leaders called for the withdrawal of foreign troops from their soil (including UN Blue Helmets) and sought Moscow’s protection through the services of the Russian Wagner Group, following in this way the Central African Republic. They also made changes to mining codes to increase state revenue at the expense of foreign companies.
It is highly time for foreign powers to change their paradigm by addressing the root causes of instability. A new strategy is needed to focus on resolving the governance crisis and economic development issues rather than the security crisis. This approach would help establish lasting peace between rival factions and between the center and the periphery of the political system.
The importance of the Sahel for the Kingdom of Morocco dates back to today, the Saadians, the Almoravids, the Almohad and the Alaouite dynasties have extended their religious and economic influence as far as Sudan and Ghana, the trans-Saharan trade routes, real corridors have connected Morocco to Sudan and Ghana via Aghmat, Sijilmassa, and other cities relay in eastern Moroccan Sahara and Timbuktu.
Within this context and background, King Mohammed VI of Morocco advocates, in recent speech on 6th November 2023, for an international initiative to grant Sahel countries access to the Atlantic Ocean, and He stressed that this initiative requires an improvement and upgrading of the infrastructure within the Sahel countries in order to integrating them into existing regional transportation and communication networks. The Royal Initiative aims at enabling landlocked Sahel countries to utilize the Morocco’s road and port infrastructure. HM the King explicitly stated that “Morocco is willing to put its road, port and rail infrastructure at the disposal of these sister countries,” in support of this initiative and stressed that “the success of such an initiative hinge on upgrading infrastructure in the Sahel countries and seeking to connect it to transport and communication networks existing in the region.”
In this vein, the kingdom of Morocco hosted a Ministerial Coordination Meeting on HM the King’s Initiative to Enhance Atlantic Ocean Access for Sahel Countries on 22-23 December at Marrakech, with the participation of Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso and Chad; Mauritania will also join this important initiative at a later stage. While expressing their gratitude to Morocco’s offer to “make its road, port and rail infrastructures available to the Sahel countries to strengthen their participation in international trade”; the participants agreed to set up a National Task Force in each country to promote the implementation of the initiative.
The launching of this initiative is very timely insofar as Sahel countries are suffering not only from geographic but also economic isolation and sanctions from ECOWAS, WAEMU, France and recently Algeria, following the participation of these countries to Marrakech meeting among Morocco and Sahel last December. In addition to these geographic and economic struggles, these countries are facing critical insecurity and political instability.
Indeed, the Moroccan initiative could alleviate the economic bottlenecks by tackling the issue of high trade and transport costs in Sahel, as well as the weak and low-quality infrastructure challenges.
This initiative should involve a dual approach: addressing both hard infrastructure gaps (like missing links and border crossings) and soft measures (regulations, technology, harmonization of processes). This comprehensive strategy aims to establish efficient transit systems vital for Sahel landlocked countries’ trade and dependency on these routes.
It’s worth mentioning that massive investments in infrastructure seems to have had a rather limited impact without an efficient logistics and trade services, which are nowadays the nerves of competitiveness worldwide; the Moroccan initiative should focus on hard infrastructure as well as on logistics services and soft aspects. Contrary to the most prevalent ideas, high logistics costs usually do not result from poor road infrastructure only.
This initiative could contribute to overcome the non-tariff barriers to trade such as the frequent delays at borders, and blockages related to customs procedures and border crossing regulations; productivity constraints; and structural weaknesses by opening an efficient transport corridor crossing from Moroccan Sahara till Chad connecting the capital cities of Sahel countries to Atlantic Moroccan ports with paved infrastructure in fair or good condition.
Facilitating trade in Sahel countries is important because the geographical constrains are the primary cause that restrict them to benefit from trade preferences provided by international community including from Morocco, which cancelled the debt of the least developed African countries while fully exempting their originated products from customs duties upon entry into the Moroccan market in 2000.
How to Make trans Saharan Corridor Work?
Trade and transport corridors, ancient in origin, are critical routes facilitating the movement of goods and people between regions and countries. They bolster connectivity, efficiency, and economies of scale by offering high-capacity transport systems, cutting transport time and costs. Particularly vital for landlocked countries, these corridors serve as lifelines, providing the primary overland access to ports and international markets. In essence, these corridors are fundamental channels that promote economic growth, enabling seamless trade and connectivity between nations.
Transport corridors are increasingly utilized globally, primarily to facilitate Landlocked Developing Countries’ (LLDCs) access to the sea via other transit nations. The African continent, having a significant number of LLDCs that lack efficient transit and trade facilitation arrangements, has notably embraced the corridor approach. These corridors are evolving from merely transportation routes into broader economic corridors, intensifying economic activities along their paths. While this transformation may increase traffic and potentially disrupt transit flow, effective corridor planning can preclude congestion.
There are important lessons to be learned for successful corridor development from the experiences of the EU and south east Asia regions.
An effective framework, including legal instruments and policy harmonization, supports sustainable trade flows, fostering economic growth and job creation. Successful improvements require careful planning, coordination across government levels and private sectors, rigorous monitoring, and knowledge sharing.
A well-functioning of corridor can yield substantial benefits: optimizing transit, supply chains, promoting inclusiveness and sustainability, and boosting trade competitiveness by reducing travel time and costs. International experiences show that improved connectivity enhances trade competitiveness, job creation, and income growth, benefiting economic development and facilitating trade and movement of people.
Efficient and cost-effective corridor transit requires the establishment of Corridor Management Initiatives (CMIs) through comprehensive enabling instruments. These instruments should foster an optimal environment for institutional frameworks, infrastructure development, transport facilitation, capacity building, and stakeholder cooperation.
Challenges in establishing transport corridors involve negotiation complexities, funding shortages impacting infrastructure programs and management institutions, and reconciling stakeholder interests and institutional limitations, hampering effective corridor mandates.
The best practices in corridor development emphasize the necessity for well-maintained infrastructure to accommodate increasing traffic and foster their evolution into economic corridors, the key aspects include:
– Defined Infrastructure Networks: Clearly designated ports, roads, railways, terminals, and border posts aid in coordinating construction, rehabilitation, and maintenance.
– Coordinated Infrastructure Development: Collaboration among corridor members is essential for prioritizing and efficiently managing infrastructure development. Notable efforts include prioritization and coordinated resource mobilization in corridors like the Northern Corridor, Central Corridor, CAREC, and the EU’s TEN-T network.
– Trade and Transport Facilitation: Harmonization of infrastructure configurations and procedures (like weighbridges, roadside stations, and One Stop Border Posts) supports better stakeholder cooperation and aids in removing transit and cross-border bottlenecks.
– Energy and ICT Infrastructure: Alongside transport infrastructure, availability of power and ICT networks is crucial to support transportation operations.
– Budget Allocation: Advocacy for sufficient national-level resources during budget-making processes is necessary for corridor program implementation.
– Resource Mobilization: Corridor countries should seek additional resources from various sources beyond national budgets. This includes opportunities for funding from external partners, such as the European Union, the European Investment Bank, and more recently, China’s investments in African transport infrastructure projects.
– Establishment of Corridor Champions: Building a network of corridor champions who advocate for the corridor and mobilize financial resources, including government and private support, can significantly aid in corridor development. For example, the African Union Development Agency (formerly NEPAD) appointed several African Presidents as champions for regional infrastructure projects within the Presidential Infrastructure Championship Initiative (PICI).
– The cooperation framework: The legal framework for cooperation among corridor countries is vital for effective management. Choosing the right legal instrument, aligned with corridor nations’ legal systems and ratified by relevant entities, is crucial. Prior stakeholder consultation is essential for selecting the best legal instrument for new initiatives.
The framework aims to strengthen collaboration on transit policies, laws, and regulations among landlocked and transit nations, streamlining the transit process. Encouraging participation in international conventions like the TIR, Harmonization, and Revised Kyoto Conventions is key. It also strives for agreements promoting simpler transport rules and documentation.
Central to this framework is robust information exchange, addressing data protection concerns and aligning information standards globally. Ultimately, this concise framework aims to enhance cooperation and coordination among corridor countries for smoother transit operations and mutual benefits.
In conclusion, we should emphasize that a well-functioning and competitive Trans-sahara corridor will yield significant benefits, particularly in enhancing the transit regime, optimizing cross-border supply chains, facilitating trade, and promoting inclusiveness, equity, and sustainability. By reducing travel costs and time, it also significantly improves trade and competitiveness and welfare in Sahel thus helping the Sahel countries overcome the roots of political instability insecurity and reinforce the central governments.
Global experience underscores that enhancing connectivity, whether at national, regional, or global levels, positively influences trade competitiveness, leading to job creation and income growth. Lower transportation costs expand trade possibilities and facilitate the movement of people, fostering economic opportunities and growth
