Mali eyes a national space agency, alongside Burkina Faso and Niger 🇲🇱 🛰️

Cliquez ici pour lire en français

Mali is exploring the creation of a national space agency. The prospect was raised by the country’s Minister of Communication, Digital Economy, and Administrative Modernisation during a meeting with the ITU’s Deputy Secretary-General, on the sidelines of the WSIS Forum 2026 in Geneva. The idea sits within a broader ambition championed by the Alliance of Sahel States (AES).

The AES’s space ambitions 🚀🌍

At the meeting, Mali’s minister laid out the government’s vision for space development. He pointed to the prospect of a national space agency, alongside shared satellite capabilities across Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger. No timeline, budget, or technical partner has been announced so far. According to Malian authorities, the initiative would gradually build satellite capacity in service of technological sovereignty, connectivity, Earth observation, and disaster management.

Mali itself doesn’t yet have a documented space program — but Burkina Faso does. Since 2019, the country has been working on Burkina-Sat1, a nanosatellite designed by local engineers and tested in China in 2023. Its launch, however, is still pending, for lack of available slots on a launch vehicle. Burkinabè authorities are also weighing the creation of a national space agency of their own. Niger, meanwhile, has no officially documented space program to date.

A continent looking to the skies 🌐🛰️

Mali’s move comes as space programs accelerate across Africa. In March 2024, several undersea cables were severed, disrupting internet connectivity in 13 West African countries for several days — an episode that underlined how much satellite infrastructure matters for network resilience. Today, at least 21 African countries have a space program, and 18 have already launched a satellite.

That momentum is also being driven by the African Space Agency (AfSA), inaugurated in Cairo, Egypt, in April 2025. According to a September 2025 report from the Africa Center for Strategic Studies (ACSS), African countries collectively spend roughly $500 million a year on their space programs. More than 120 additional satellites are reportedly in development across the continent, with launches expected by 2030.

This momentum reflects a growing appetite among African states for space technology — in service of both development and digital sovereignty.

Do you think African countries should invest more in space technology to strengthen their digital sovereignty? Why, or why not?