Morocco is gaining ground in the Sahel. From December 16 to 19 in Rabat, the first session of the joint military commission between the kingdom and Burkina Faso was held. The meeting was co-chaired by Colonel Rachid Zorouki, head of the Royal Armed Forces' foreign relations department, and Colonel Jean Baptiste Kapuri, director general of military cooperation and defense of Burkina Faso, according to a statement released by the FAR yesterday. The session «focused on all activities for 2024 and the joint action plan for 2025». It concluded with the signing of a military cooperation agreement. Burkina Faso has joined the initiative of King Mohammed VI, launched on November 6, 2023, aimed at facilitating access for Sahel countries to the Atlantic Ocean. For the record, the military in power in this West African country released four French nationals last week, following mediation launched by King Mohammed VI. Ouagadougou inaugurated a consulate in Dakhla on October 23, 2020. The coup d'état of September 30, 2022, did not annul the recognition by the civilian regime of former President Roch Marc Kaboré of the Moroccanness of Western Sahara.
