Moroccan minister calls for Africa to be counterterrorism hub
Moroccan Foreign Minister, Nasser Bourita, spoke at the fifth High-Level Meeting of Heads of Counter-Terrorism and Security Agencies in Africa, held in El Jadida on June 9th and co-chaired by Morocco and the UN Office of Counter-Terrorism (UNOCT).
Morocco’s diplomacy has expanded into counterterrorism, with Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita calling for Africa to become a global counterterrorism hub, according to the pro-Moroccan Yabiladi and agencies on June 9th.
Bourita spoke at the fifth High-Level Meeting of Heads of Counter-Terrorism and Security Agencies in Africa, held in El Jadida on June 9th and co-chaired by Morocco and the UN Office of Counter-Terrorism (UNOCT).
He stated that King Mohammed VI’s vision for Africa provides a comprehensive approach to addressing Africa’s security challenges; he highlighted the expansion of terrorism, including the links between Islamist groups and separatists.
According to the Global Terrorism Index, Africa’s Sahel region accounted for nearly half of all terror-related deaths in 2025; jihadists have also become increasingly entrenched in the border region between Niger, Nigeria and Benin.
Following coordinated attacks in Mali on April 25th that killed Defence Minister Sadio Camara and led the Tuareg-led Azawad Liberation Front (FLA) to recapture Kidal, a Tuareg stronghold.
Allegedly, the Algerian-backed Polisario Front were involved in the attacks alongside the al-Qaeda-affiliated JNIM and the FLA.
On April 29th, Bourita said that Morocco had “observed what is now an obvious collusion between separatism and terrorism.”
He asserted that the Polisario-FLA alliance “represents a threat to regional stability and to Mali.”
JNIM is behind the fuel blockade Mali has experienced since September 2025, which seeks to destabilise the military junta and install an Islamic Republic.
The Polisario control the Tindouf refugee camps, situated close to the Mauritanian border, where concerns about Polisario incursions have led Mauritania to develop security cooperation with Morocco.
Furthermore, Mali has accused Mauritania of harbouring terrorists in the border region, which Mauritania denies.
Mali’s support for Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara under the Moroccan Autonomy Plan led the countries to confront their shared fight against Tuareg and Polisario separatists, respectively.
Niger and Burkina Faso, Mali’s regional allies, have also backed Moroccan sovereignty; all three countries are junta-led and have struggled to contain growing Islamist insurgencies.
The countries are expected to benefit from Morocco’s Atlantic Initiative to provide landlocked countries with access to the Atlantic Ocean via Morocco.
On June 3rd, Malian officials praised Morocco as a steadfast ally in Mali’s political and diplomatic choices, particularly in areas of training and defence.
Maghrebi contacted Morocco’s Foreign Affairs Ministry for comment on the June 9th meeting, but has not received a response at the time of publication.
Yabiladi and agencies, Maghrebi.org
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