Ivory Coast is ready to resume security cooperation with its Sahelian neighbors (Deputy Prime Minister)

Ivory Coast is ready to resume its security cooperation with its Sahelian neighbors, Mali and Burkina Faso, two countries governed by military juntas that have turned their backs on it, Ivorian Deputy Prime Minister Tene Birahima Ouattara told AFP on Tuesday.

Mali and Burkina Faso are being hit hard by deadly jihadist violence that has spared Ivory Coast in recent years.

Relations between Abidjan and the two Sahelian countries have been strained since the arrival in power in 2020 and 2022 in Bamako and Ouagadougou of sovereignist juntas that rejected the partnership with France, the former colonial power of which Ivory Coast remains a key ally.

"I remain convinced of one thing: terrorism, as it currently stands, cannot be defeated by a single state. There must be collaboration, a pooling of forces," said Mr. Ouattara, who is also Minister of Defense, on the sidelines of the Eurosatory trade fair dedicated to the sector, in France.

"With Burkina Faso, for example, we initiated the possibility of conducting joint operations together. There was a stoppage that I would describe as abrupt (in June 2024, editor's note) and since then, there has been absolutely nothing.

"But it is desirable that we can have this type of partnership to try to deal with terrorism," he added, saying he was "sincerely ready" to resume cooperation, if his two neighbors wished.

The Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (GSIM or JNIM), linked to Al-Qaeda in the Sahel and very present in Burkina Faso and Mali, sometimes only a few kilometers behind the Ivorian border, has not carried out any deadly attacks in Ivory Coast since 2021.

The Ivorian authorities are highlighting their military, but also social, response in the border area to justify this situation.

"From the outset, we thought that we first needed to organize the northern zone, both militarily and in terms of development. Poverty is fertile ground for terrorism," explained Mr. Ouattara, who specified that 3,000 men are deployed in the northern zone of the country.

The Deputy Prime Minister, brother of President Alassane Ouattara and his potential successor, also recalled that France remained "a privileged partner" of Ivory Coast.

"Whether it is at the level of training, at the level of intelligence, at the level of equipment, there is exemplary cooperation with France," he stated.

AFP