Burkina Faso officially launched mobile enrolment kits in Bamako on June 1, 2026, to facilitate the seamless issuance of identity and travel documents under the Alliance of Sahel States (AES) framework for its nationals living in Mali.
The strategic deployment of these mobile registration tools forms part of Ouagadougou’s broader initiative to modernize its consular services, while supporting the gradual implementation of unified identity documents across the AES confederation. The high-profile launch ceremony took place at the Embassy of Burkina Faso in Mali, attended by Burkinabe Security Minister, Police Divisional Commissioner Mahamadou Sana, alongside his Malian counterpart, Division General Daoud Aly Mohammedine, who serves as the Minister of Security and Civil Protection.
These next-generation mobile kits will enable the biometric enrolment of Burkinabe nationals specifically for the issuance of the new AES biometric identity card and the shared AES passport. To drastically accelerate processing times, the data collected on-site in Mali will be securely transmitted in near real-time back to production centers located in Burkina Faso. Serving as the official pilot phase for the entire system, Bamako represents a vital testing ground before the operational rollout is gradually extended to other Burkinabe diplomatic and consular missions worldwide, actively targeting the significant Burkinabe diaspora community currently residing in Mali.
Adopted by the Council of Ministers on November 6, 2025, the new AES biometric identity card is available to citizens from the age of five and becomes legally mandatory from the age of 13. Valid for a period of 10 years and priced affordably at 3,500 CFA francs, the card entered large-scale production in January 2026. Simultaneously, the new AES passport is a core component of the regional integration drive launched by Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger under the Confederation of Sahel States, intended to gradually replace the former, separate national passports of all three member countries. This technical rollout arrives amid heavily fortified security and administrative cooperation between Bamako and Ouagadougou. During his working visit to Mali, Minister Mahamadou Sana held extensive talks with Malian authorities regarding regional mobility, national identification systems, and collaborative security frameworks, successfully bringing Burkinabe consular services closer to their citizens abroad.
MD/te/Sf/lb/abj/APA