Mali’s National Transitional Council (CNT) last Friday adopted draft laws authorising the ratification of agreements establishing the television channel Tafouk TV and the radio station Daande Liptako.
This marks a new step in the implementation of the joint media platform of the Confederation of Sahel States (AES).
Presented by the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Abdoulaye Diop, the texts concern two confederation media outlets intended to strengthen audiovisual cooperation between Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger. The agreement establishing Daande Liptako was signed on November 26, 2025, in Ouagadougou, while the agreement creating Tafouk TV was signed on December 21, 2025, in Bamako.
Their ratification will allow Mali to fully participate in the governance, financing, and operation of these joint bodies, designed as tools for disseminating shared information, promoting national
languages and cultural heritage, and responding to disinformation campaigns targeting the Sahel region, according to the AES authorities.
Media outlets already operational
Radio Daande Liptako officially began broadcasting on December 21, 2025. Based in Ouagadougou, it broadcasts continuously with relay stations in Bamako and Niamey. In Burkina Faso, it is notably
accessible on 94.0 FM.
Based in Bamako, Tafouk TV has been broadcasting on digital terrestrial television in Burkina Faso since March 2026, as well as on the Canal+ package, channel 387. The authorities also announced
broadcasts in Africa, Europe, the Americas, and the Middle East.
The names “Tafouk,” meaning sun in Tamasheq, and “Daande Liptako,” translated as “The Voice of Liptako” in Fulfulde, reflect the desire to promote Sahelian cultural identities.
Both media outlets will offer programming in French and national languages, including news broadcasts, magazines, educational and cultural programs, and content dedicated to the Confederation’s common policies. The radio station is expected to play a strategic role for rural populations, where internet access remains limited.
The governing bodies are already in place. The board of directors of Daande Liptako, chaired by Mossokoura Konate, technical advisor to the Malian Ministry of Communication, was established in June in Ouagadougou. The board of directors of Tafouk TV, headed by Hélène Ayika, held its first session the same month in Bamako.
A media structure distributed among the three member states
The AES media project is based on a distribution of structures among the three member countries. Bamako hosts the confederation’s television station, Ouagadougou its radio station, and Niamey is
slated to host a future news agency, whose legal and institutional plans were submitted to the Nigerien authorities in June 2026.
This agency will be tasked with providing newsrooms with dispatches, photographs, and other shared contents, thus complementing the regional audiovisual infrastructure.
Tafouk TV and Daande Liptako will work in coordination with the national public media outlets – RTB of Burkina Faso, ORTM of Mali, and RTN of Niger – by sharing equipment, productions, and expertise, without replacing their national missions.
Before the National Transitional Council (CNT), Abdoulaye Diop indicated that the operation of the confederation’s media outlets would rely primarily on internal funding.
The boards of directors, composed of representatives from the three states, will be responsible for overseeing budgets, recruitment, investments, and editorial policy.
The project originated from work launched in Bamako in August 2024 on a joint communication strategy, which was further developed during an expert meeting held in January 2026 focusing on programming schedules, organizational charts, budgets, and recruitment procedures.
As part of its outreach to external partners, Tafouk TV also signed a cooperation agreement with the Russian channel RT on July 8, 2026, in Niamey, on the sidelines of ministerial consultations between the Confederation of Sahel States and the Russian Federation.
With the adoption of these agreements by the Malian National Transitional Council (CNT), the AES (Association of Senegalese Broadcasting Companies) is continuing to structure its shared media
space, centred around a television station in Bamako, a radio station in Ouagadougou, and a future news agency in Niamey.
MD/te/Sf/fss/as/APA