German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock began her two-day trip to West Africa on Monday with a tour of an electric express bus project in the Senegalese capital Dakar.
Dakar's Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system went into operation in May, with financing from the European Investment Bank and the World Bank. Along with the TER suburban train, the transport network aims to facilitate mobility and reduce environmental damage.
The population of the greater Dakar area has increased tenfold since 1970, with around 4 million people officially living in the region. Although the city lies on a peninsula by the sea, it suffers some of the worst air quality on the African continent.
Germany is committed to "proposals that benefit people on both sides today and tackle future challenges together," said Baerbock, arguing that the project would advance Senegal's green transition and improve residents' quality of life.
She said that Africa's first electric express bus system is a tangible example of beneficial cooperation, singling out the European Union's Global Gateway initiative - which aims to invest up to €300 billion in developing countries by 2027 - for praise.
Senegal, which began oil production a month ago and is aiming to start exporting natural gas by the end of the year, is simultaneously making increased efforts for a sustainable power supply.
According to the International Energy Agency, the country has met its wind and solar power targets set for 2025, which are now supplying a fifth of its electricity. The share of electricity from renewable energy is due to reach 40% by 2030.
To help Senegal reach its targets, €2.5 billion in public and private funds are to be mobilized under the Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP) with Germany, France, and the EU.
Baerbock's two-day visit
Baerbock's visit to Senegal was due to continue on Monday with meetings with her Senegalese counterpart Yassine Fall alongside newly elected President Bassirou Diomaye Faye in Dakar, before she travels to Ivory Coast on Tuesday.
She is hoping to expand cooperation with the two countries and help prevent the instability that is currently rocking the Sahel from spreading to the rest of the region.
"If more countries in West Africa descend into instability, that will not only have dramatic consequences for the local population, but also a direct impact on our security in Europe," Baerbock said ahead of her visit to the region.
Senegal and Ivory Coast, who are among West Africa's few remaining democracies, are considered two of the most important partners for Europe at a time when more and more Sahel nations are turning to Russia.
Baerbock's trip comes amid a wave of instability in the Sahel region, which some observers have termed the Coup Belt, following military uprisings in Mali, Chad, Guinea, Sudan, Burkina Faso, Niger and Gabon since 2020.
While many of the new military governments have turned away from relations with the European Union, withdrawn from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and canvassed support from Russian forces, Senegal and Ivory Coast have maintained their relations with the West.
The people of the two coastal nations as well as "other countries bordering the Sahel live under the constant threat that terror and violence from neighbouring countries will also seep into their societies," Baerbock said.
Senegal has not experienced a violent conflict since its independence from France in 1960.
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