On an official visit to Togo, the French Minister of Foreign Affairs addressed the issue of security in West Africa on Friday. Jean-Noël Barrot affirmed that the concern about the “terrorist risk” was common to both countries and that France placed itself “in support of regional initiatives”.

Published on: 04/24/2026 - 5:00 p.m.

France and Togo have a "common concern", declared Friday April 24 the French Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jean-Noël Barrot, in Lomé, that of "the security of the sub-region and of course that of the terrorist risk". This is the first official French visit of such a high level in ten years to Togo.

The violence of jihadist groups affiliated with Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State organization has been undermining the Sahel for a decade and extending into the north of coastal countries such as Togo, a few years after the withdrawal of the French army engaged in the anti-jihadist fight, demanded by the military regimes of Burkina, Mali and Niger.

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“We have a common concern which is that of the security of the sub-region and of course that of the terrorist risk which we all want to curb and contain,” Jean-Noël Barrot told the press.

“France supports regional initiatives to contain this scourge and allow the countries of the sub-region to fully assume their security and sovereignty,” he added, during his second and last day of visit.

Togo is a former French colony and rare ally of Paris in the region, which at the same time establishes links with Russia.

A mediator in DR Congo and the Sahel

Arriving in Lomé on Thursday evening, Jean-Noël Barrot immediately spoke with leader Faure Gnassingbé, welcoming in particular Togo's role as mediator on the continent.

He recalled this on Friday: in the Democratic Republic of Congo, ravaged by conflicts, "Togo plays a leading role in leading African mediation, the only one likely to provide lasting solutions to this crisis."

“It is also true, I know, in the Sahel region” where “you play a pivotal role in, here again, finding concerted solutions at the regional level to combat the progression of the terrorist risk,” he added.

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He also mentioned the “benefits of cooperation between France and Togo in the field of health, in the digital field” and in matters of “heritage and memory”.

Furthermore, the minister believes that France's major summit on the African continent in May in Nairobi, Africa Forward, will be "an opportunity to demonstrate the benefits of renewed partnerships established between African countries and France."

Robert Dussey, for his part, hailed “a man of his word” and a “great minister”. “The last time a Minister of Foreign Affairs of the French Republic made an official working visit to Togo was in 2002,” he recalled.

With AFP

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