A planned trade corridor linking the landlocked Sahel to the Atlantic is at the heart of an ambitious Moroccan project to tackle regional instability and consolidate its grip on disputed Western Sahara.
The Atlantic Initiative promises ocean access to Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger through a new $1.3 billion port in the former Spanish colony claimed by the pro-independence Polisario Front but largely controlled by Morocco.
But the project remains fraught with challenges at a time when military coups in the Sahel states have brought new leaderships to power intent on overturning longstanding political alignments following years of jihadist violence.
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