Senegalese and Mauritanian armed forces have intensified joint security operations along their shared border in response to growing terrorism in the region.
Both militaries patrolled a river covering several localities between Bakel-Aroundou and Diougountourou on the Malian border in October 2025, according to Senegal’s Directorate of Information and Public Relations of the Armed Forces (DIRPA). This comes after a September joint ground patrol in the same area.
The countries, separated by the Senegal River, have established closer collaboration as terror groups in western Mali try to exploit weaknesses and push toward the coast. In July 2025, the terror group Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin, known as JNIM, attacked the Kayes, Nioro and Ségou regions near the tri-border area before blockading cities with trade connections to Senegal and Mauritania. Terrorism has slowed trade along the Kidira-Bamako corridor, which is vital to the regional economy.
In April 2025, Senegalese Minister of the Armed Forces Birame Diop visited Nouakchott and met with Mauritanian Minister of Defense Hanana Ould Sidi. The two leaders stressed the need for more joint patrols, information and expertise exchanges, and cooperation to halt trafficker and terrorist movement.
Observers believe it is vital for both countries to collaborate to keep the threat outside their borders.
“Prevention is better than trying to find a cure and today the Senegalese and Mauritanians have every interest in cooperating,” Boubacar Ba, a Senegalese political analyst, told Africa24. “This is not only to assure security at their border but also to share intelligence because today the war against jihadists is also very much an external war.”