Breakaway West African bloc aims to deploy 2 satellites with Russian help

BAMAKO, Mali

A breakaway West African bloc of three countries under military regimes is working with Russia to launch at least two satellites, an official statement said on Tuesday.

Col. Assimi Goita, the president of Mali and current chair of the Alliance of Sahel States (AES), discussed the project with Ilya Tarasenko, the head of Russian space company Glavkosmos, along with officials from Niger and Burkina Faso in Mali’s capital Bamako on Monday.

The project comes in response “to the challenges of sovereignty, security and development of the region,” said the statement.

The AES is an alliance of Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger formed last September. The three nations withdrew from the Economic Community of West African States, or ECOWAS, which had threatened to intervene militarily in Niger following a coup in that country last year.

The statement said the satellites, including one for communications and another for remote sensing, will “strengthen the digital infrastructure through better internet coverage, as well as the broadcasting of radio and television in the AES countries.”

It added the constellation of earth observation satellites will provide high-resolution satellite imagery for various strategic sectors such as agriculture, health, education, as well as security and defense, particularly for border control and risk and disaster prevention.

The AES states are also planning to train local experts in space technology.

“It is not only a question of benefiting from Russian technologies, but of training local experts who, in the long term, will ensure autonomous management of these infrastructures,” said Nigerien Communications Minister Sidi Mohamed Raliou.


*Writing by Riyaz ul Khaliq in Istanbul