Senegal — Defence and Security Cooperation: The Post-French Window

Senegal is diversifying its defence partnerships for structural reasons, not tactical ones. The opening is for capacity-building — training, education, intelligence, maritime and border know-how, the fight against organised crime — financed through European or government-to-government channels, not for basing or commercial arms sales. This note maps who decides and what is funded, the corridor threats on the eastern border, the AES dimension, and the red lines any partner must respect.

• [HC] The window is structural: cooperation must build Senegalese capacity without foreign presence.
• [MC] Maritime is the priority vector — the new chief of defence staff is the first naval officer to hold the post.
• [HC] The eastern corridors carry fuel, cocaine, cyanide and recruits: intelligence, border and anti-crime capacity is the concrete need.
• [MC] The AES is a second theatre, not a no-go zone — engage, condition, sequence.