Four Moroccan truck drivers went missing on Saturday while crossing the troubled border area between Burkina Faso and Niger, according to a source at the Moroccan Embassy in Burkina Faso and the Moroccan Transport Union.
The diplomatic source said the three trucks, one of which had a spare driver, disappeared as they were traveling without escort from Burkina Faso’s Dory to Niger’s Terra, an area known for jihadist threats.
Junta-led Burkina Faso and Niger are battling Islamist militant groups linked to al-Qaeda and Islamic State, whose insurgency has destabilized Sahel states in West Africa over the past decade.
The Moroccan diplomatic source said the embassy was working closely with Burkina Faso authorities to find the drivers.
Authorities in Burkina Faso are organizing security convoys to move trucks to the border area to protect against terrorist attacks, the source said.
Icharki El Hachami, secretary general of Morocco’s transporters union, told Reuters that after waiting for a week, the trucks departed without any escort.
Trucks loaded with infrastructure equipment, he said, had departed from Casablanca weeks ago on their way to Niger.
El Hachmi urged greater security in high-risk areas as the number of Moroccan trucks crossing the Sahel continues to rise.
Earlier this month, a convoy of Moroccan trucks was attacked on the Malian border with Mauritania, although there were no casualties, El Hachmi said.