Burkina Faso’s prime minister, in a visit to neighbouring Mali this week, has suggested the two countries form a “federation” to boost their economic clout, his office said.
Both nations are battling jihadist insurgencies and are run by juntas who have turned away from France, the former colonial power and traditional ally.
“We could create a flexible federation that would be mutually reinforcing and respect the aspirations of both sides,” Prime Minister Apollinaire Kyelem de Tambela said, according to an official account of the visit published by his office on Thursday.
“Mali is a major producer of cotton, cattle and gold. Burkina Faso also produces cotton, cattle and gold,” Kyelem de Tambela said during the trip on Tuesday and Wednesday.
“So long as we each take separate paths, we don’t have much clout. But if you put Mali’s and Burkina Faso’s production of cotton, gold and cattle together, it becomes a powerhouse.”
Kyelem de Tambela referred to a past effort to forge a federation in francophone West Africa — a stillborn bid to bring together Mali, Senegal, Burkina Faso and Benin shortly before they gained independence from France in 1960.
“Our forebears tried to create groupings, like the Mali Federation, which sadly did not last. But they showed us the way,” he said.
“One of my reasons for going to Mali is that for a long time we’ve been looking elsewhere for solutions when they’re often right under our noses,” he continued.
There has been no official reaction by Malian authorities to the federation idea.
But Malian Prime Minister Choguel Kokalla Maiga, at a dinner on Tuesday with Kyelem de Tambela, said the two neighbours had “the same goals.”
He spelt out what he called the junta’s guiding principles of defending sovereignty, the freedom to choose foreign partners and national interests.
“I’m certain that these principles are shared by all countries who want to take control of their destiny, and our brothers and friends in (Burkina) Faso, I’m convinced, must have similar demands,” Maiga said in a video shared by his officials. (France24)