It is no coincidence that Mauritania is simultaneously making moves to the north, toward Morocco, and south, toward Senegal. While the foreign minister of Mauritania, Alnaha bint Oueld Meknas, traveled to Tetouan to meet the King of Morocco, Mohammed VI, a military delegation headed by Senegalese Defense Minister Abdoulaye Balde was holding discussions in Nouakchott on a plan to coordinate a response to the out-of-control security situation and rein in suspicious political movements in the region. The matter is not about a three-way alliance that is being formed. However, regional neighbors have made it incumbent on Mauritania to involve its closest neighbors in what it views as trans-border issues that target the security and stability of the entirety of northwestern Africa. Mauritania has not excluded Mali and Niger from its horizontal expansion, but the disputes over how to deal with the conditions for the release of western hostages kidnapped by the group al-Qaida in the Arab Maghreb have resulted in a disparity in political stances, while the security situation in Niger continues to inch its way toward stability. Certainly, the Mauritanians have paid considerable attention to developments in the European stance on the spread of extremism and terror, and the security deterioration in the Sahel region of the South Sahara. The first-of-its-kind European-Moroccan Summit was an opportunity to become familiar with these conditions, which worry EU countries as well as the countries of the region. The Moroccan-Mauritanian discussions were an opportunity to delve into what should be done to maintain European enthusiasm. The new course of developments in the South Saharan Sahel region has left no room for hesitation vis-à-vis the security and political dangers that threaten the region. After the EU was less enthusiastic unless it involved issues of illegal immigration and the massive movement by Africans on the run from hunger, disease and death, today, the EU is now examining key incidents that have targeted European nationals, while the American recipe of AFRICOM has moved forward, amid the hesitant stances taken. This is whether the matter involves establishing a permanent military presence, or merely coordination that covers monitoring the land, sea and interior desert. However, the EU's linkage between Mediterranean and Atlantic worries about dealing with challenges to security in the region reflects an American-European understanding over being upset by the developments. Based on this, the Morocco-Mauritania-Senegal axis appears to have strategic importance. While the importance of this axis is currently limited to illegal immigration and the trafficking in goods and people, there are aspirations, in parallel to these efforts, to change the face of the region, at the least in developing mechanisms and spaces for assistance with development. There are large-scale projects that have not received the needed attention, such as a building a coastal road from Tangiers to Lagos, via Mauritania and Senegal. There is also the situation with inter-continental link between Africa and Europe, through the Straits of Gibraltar. Wagers and challenges of this magnitude cannot be met through limited means, such as are now available to these countries. They require huge projects to pump investment funds and reinforce structures and the wealth of resources, similar to reconstruction efforts in Europe following the Second World War, or western Europe's opening to its eastern neighbors following the fall of the Berlin War and the end of the Cold War. The problem in the Moroccan-European dialogue, which promised the beginning of a new era of partnership with high returns, is that Morocco also faces difficulties, which divert it from improving its relations with its African neighbors. The same applies to inter-Maghreb relations, which have missed several opportunities for improvement. The three-country axis of Morocco, Mauritania and Senegal, which puts forward a strategic approach to European-African relations, is qualified to relay the voice of some countries of the global south to European and American ears. However, its tone, which is both calm and convincing, can also go farther, if it expands horizontally, to include countries in West and North Africa. On both sides of this strip, which combines the sea and the desert, there is wealth and resources that are tempting the region's partners to begin a wide-scale dialogue, if it is naturally closer to an understanding of the Union for the Mediterranean. If the countries of West Africa join the Mediterranean extensions it will be closer to an understanding, as long as there are short-term and long-term challenges to Mediterranean and Atlantic interests.
