Mali Hosts Regional Border Management Workshop

Governments of the G5 Sahel group of countries and technical and financial partners have met in Bamako, Mali for the second regional border management meeting of the IOM project: “Coordinated border management in Mali, Niger, Mauritania and Burkina Faso” funded by the Government of Japan. The first meeting of the group took place in July 2015.

The Sahel is one of the most sensitive and unstable regions in Africa. While there are continuous and increasing security threats, most states are not sufficiently equipped to control effectively their borders and to ensure human security, as shown by the recent terror attacks in Bamako, Ouagadougou and N'Djamena.

In addition to building material and technical capacities at national level, better regional coordination of state and non-state actors is also needed to respond to the security challenges which face the G5 Sahel countries.

“This workshop shows that not only that there are a lot of challenges in border management in the Sahel, but also that all of the governments are committed to working together on enhancing both mobility and security," says IOM Regional Director for IOM Western and Central Africa Richard Danziger.

The 12-month project supports and enhances regional and national approaches to border management through a set of measures adapted to different level of intervention.

The Bamako meeting reviewed the recommendations of directors of border police who met in Nouakchott, Mauritania, on February 9th to share best practices. It also reviewed progress in improving border management in the region through the past seven months and outstanding challenges.