By Isabel Lourenço
Photos: YouTube Screenshots\Wikimedia Commons
In a time when anti-colonial rhetoric has become a rallying cry across parts of Africa, particularly in the Sahel, the actions of Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger’s leaders lay bare the hypocrisy behind their posturing. Ibrahim Traoré of Burkina Faso, Assimi Goïta of Mali, and Abdourahamane Tiani of Niger have all championed the expulsion of French troops and declared independence from neocolonial structures. They present themselves as vanguards of a new sovereign Africa, free from European manipulation and imperialism. And yet, in a move that reveals the profound duplicity at play, these same leaders have embraced a deal with the Kingdom of Morocco to access the Atlantic Ocean via the port of Dakhla—a city located not in Morocco, but in the occupied, non-self-governing territory of Western Sahara.
This so-called “Atlantic Initiative” is not a neutral infrastructural project. It is a deceptive tool, a carefully crafted ploy by Morocco to seduce African nations with promises of connectivity while embedding its colonial occupation deeper into the political and economic architecture of the continent. It is a strategic hoax, designed not to liberate but to normalize the occupation of Western Sahara—and it is working. The port of Dakhla is a colonial outpost, constructed on stolen land, in violation of international law, and in direct opposition to decades of United Nations resolutions affirming the right of the Sahrawi people to self-determination. When Traoré and his allies choose to access the sea through Dakhla, they are not just entering a trade agreement—they are underwriting and politically reinforcing the occupation of Western Sahara.
What makes this decision even more shameful is that it was entirely unnecessary. The West African coast offers numerous ports—such as Lomé (Togo), Cotonou (Benin), Abidjan (Côte d’Ivoire), Takoradi and Tema (Ghana), Monrovia (Liberia), Freetown (Sierra Leone), Banjul (Gambia), and Conakry (Guinea)—that could provide strategic Atlantic access without violating international law or endorsing a military occupation. By choosing Dakhla, the Sahel governments have deliberately bypassed legitimate and cooperative regional alternatives in favor of normalizing colonial control.
There is no ambiguity here. Morocco is not a victim of colonialism—it is a perpetrator of it. Since 1975, when Spain illegally abandoned its responsibilities in the territory without holding a referendum, Morocco has maintained its de facto control through military occupation, forced population transfer, repression of Sahrawi civil society, and pillaging of natural resources. The territory remains listed by the UN as a non-self-governing territory. Every investment into infrastructure, every diplomatic recognition, every bilateral deal involving Dakhla or any other place located in the occupied territory, serves only one purpose: to normalize the occupation and delay or eliminate the prospect of Sahrawi self-determination and end of occupation.
By endorsing Morocco’s Atlantic Initiative, which offers landlocked Sahel countries access to the Atlantic Ocean via Dakhla, the AES nations are effectively legitimizing Morocco’s occupation of Western Sahara. READ MORE…
