When your neighbor's house is burning, you should bring them water, says the African proverb. This wisdom doesn't seem to have sunk in for Senegal in the current situation in Mali. The neighboring country is under a blockade imposed by jihadists. A blockade that directly impacts the Senegalese economy, particularly the port of Dakar. But strangely, Senegal remains remarkably silent on Mali's current difficulties. Not a single authority has addressed the issue, neither in cabinet meetings, nor in any other media appearances by various officials. But the government isn't the only one. The media also shows no interest. The subject is treated in international news as a distant affair. And civil society organizations seem hardly more concerned. Why, then, this general silence?

However, this issue should be of utmost interest to Dakar. Not because the two countries share much in terms of history and geography, but simply because Senegal is also exposed to the threat of armed groups. And with this blockade strategy, JNIM aims to wear down Bamako, as Bakary Samb explained on RFI.

In the absence of state action, some individuals seem to be recognizing the danger and have decided to raise the alarm. One of them is Ibrahima Thioub, a historian and former rector of Cheikh Anta Diop University (UCAD). He believes that Senegal and West Africa should address the situation in Mali as quickly as possible. "If the JNIM (National Islamic Jabhat Mali) seizes power there, we will no longer be talking about Mega Niakhtou or Tera politics anywhere. If the lessons of the past are of any use, we should remember that when Waalo fell to colonial troops in 1854, the elites of Kajoor and Bawol continued to squabble over who would be Farba this or Farba that. A few months later, they were swept aside by their former slaves who had joined the Senegalese Tirailleurs battalion," recalls Ibrahima Thioub.

The historian believes that France will not intervene as it did in 2013. The Alliance of Sahel States does not have the solution. Senegal therefore has an interest in acting urgently, and even in mobilizing ECOWAS. "The JNIM is on the verge of cutting Bamako off from the world. If the Mali of Sundiata collapses, it will take with it the Senegambia of Njaajaan Njaay, Janke Waali, Samory, and Meissa Waali. (...) If we waste time on our traditional squabbles, we will pay a higher price than Samba Lawbe in Tivaouane in 1886 and Alburi Njaay in Dosso in 1901!" he warns.

The other prominent figure to speak out was former Interior Minister Aly Ngouille Ndiaye. On his Facebook page, he published an opinion piece with a rather alarmist title: "Must we wait for Bamako to fall?" According to Ndiaye, Western countries can ask their citizens to leave Mali if they consider the country a foreign policy issue. For neighboring countries, however, he emphasizes, it is a matter of internal security.

“A jihadist takeover of Bamako would undoubtedly impact the national security of all Mali’s bordering countries except Algeria, which has equipped itself with the military and political means to eradicate jihadism.” Hence his appeal to ECOWAS and Mauritania not to wait for Bamako to fall. The former minister calls on ECOWAS and the African Union to break their silence. According to him, regardless of Mali’s withdrawal from ECOWAS, action must be taken to stop the strategy of stifling the jihadists.

“Mauritania, Senegal, Guinea, and Côte d'Ivoire share four thousand (4,000) kilometers of borders with Mali, which our armies struggle to defend. Furthermore, beyond security concerns, the economic stakes involved with the ports of Dakar, Conakry, and Abidjan are sufficient reasons to save Mali,” he argues. Aly Ngouille Ndiaye calls on Alassane Ouattara and Diomaye Faye to forget their failure to reintegrate the AES countries into ECOWAS. He advocates for the reactivation of the standby force established to combat jihadism.

Yet, Africans have a good example in this regard. Despite Ukraine's difficulties with Russia, Europeans continue to provide unwavering support to Kyiv. Not because they like Zelensky (that's the least of their concerns), but because they consider any threat in Ukraine to be a matter of internal security. The Libyan barrier has been breached, and the consequences are well known. It's difficult to predict the effects in the sub-region if the Malian barrier collapses.