Mauritania's Prime Minister, Mokhtar Ould Djay, opened the second edition of the Forum on Climate, Peace and Security for Sahel and Gulf of Guinea states in Nouakchott on 6 October 2026, speaking on behalf of President Mohamed Ould Cheikh El Ghazouani. The three-day event, held at the Palais des Congrès 'Mokhtar Ould Daddah' and organized with the UN Development Programme, follows the first edition held in Bamako in November 2023 and is themed 'Ensemble pour la résilience et la paix.'
Ould Djay framed climate change as no longer a purely environmental issue but a matter of peace, security, stability and development, and called for integrated, coordinated regional responses. Mauritania positioned itself as a natural convenor, citing its status as host of the Pan-African Great Green Wall Agency. Confirmed attendees at the opening ceremony included Mali's Minister of Environment, Sanitation and Sustainable Development, Doumbia Mariam Tangara, and Senegal's Minister of Ecological Transition, alongside Mauritanian cabinet members and regional officials. No Gulf of Guinea coastal state appears to have sent a head-of-state-level delegation based on available reporting.
As of this report, no closing declaration, joint communiqué or specific funding commitment from the forum has been reported, with the event scheduled to close on 8 October. Malian coverage of the opening ceremony noted that Mali's own 'leadership' on the climate-security nexus, embodied by transitional President Assimi Goïta, was warmly praised during proceedings—a framing that sits alongside Mauritania's host-nation narrative and points to differing emphases on ownership of the agenda between the two countries' delegations.
The forum takes place against a fractured regional security backdrop in which the G5 Sahel has ceased functioning and the Alliance of Sahel States (AES) has become the dominant security actor among Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso. Mauritania has not joined the AES, but relations between Nouakchott and the bloc's members improved from June 2026, when Mauritania's Defence Minister held talks in Bamako, Niamey and Ouagadougou aimed at easing months of tension and restoring security coordination channels.