Benin’s newly elected President Romuald Wadagni visited Niger and Burkina Faso on Tuesday, signalling a decisive diplomatic shift from his predecessor and a potential easing of tensions with the region’s military juntas. Meeting Niger’s junta chief Abdourahamane Tiani and Burkina Faso’s leader Ibrahim Traore, Wadagni placed the reopening of borders and joint counter-terrorism efforts at the centre of talks, according to official statements issued after the meetings.

The trip marks the first major foreign engagement since Wadagni took office on May 24, having won 94 percent of the vote as the handpicked successor to Patrice Talon. In Niamey, Tiani and Wadagni committed “to working to remove all obstacles to strengthening cooperation between the two countries, in particular the reopening of the border,” a joint communiqué said. The frontier was closed by Niger’s junta after the July 2023 coup, amid accusations that Benin was harbouring French military bases and facilitating destabilisation efforts — charges Cotonou and Paris have consistently denied.

Both leaders affirmed their determination to “join forces in fighting the scourge of terrorism and banditry,” a shared priority as Benin’s northern regions face escalating jihadist violence spilling over from the Sahel. Wadagni’s office described the tour as part of an “active neighbourhood diplomacy” aimed at resetting relations with all bordering states. In Burkina Faso, he and Traore stressed “the urgency of consolidating cooperation against terrorism, cross-border crime and violent extremism.”

The economic stakes are a powerful driver for rapprochement. The port of Seme-Kpodji in Cotonou serves as the most efficient corridor for supplying landlocked Niger and exporting its raw materials; before the dispute, 80 percent of Niger’s freight transited the route. A major oil pipeline exporting Nigerien crude through Benin remains operational, underscoring mutual dependency. Yet the sole bridge over the Niger River connecting the two neighbours remains shuttered, with heavy security deployed, a tangible measure of the distrust the new administration now seeks to overcome.