The Alliance of the Sahel States (AES, Alliance des États du Sahel in French) is a confederation of Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso, in West Africa. It emerged in September 2023, with the signing of the AES charter as a mutual defence pact by the heads of states of the tree countries: Ibrahim Traore of Burkina Faso, Assimi Goita of Mali and Abdourahamane Tchiani of Niger. This was after the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) stand against the coup d’état that brought Abdourahamane to power in Niger.
The “Charter of Liptako-Gourma,” is also called. And its fundamental objective is to “establish an architecture of collective defence and mutual assistance for the benefit of our populations. Any attack on the sovereignty and territorial integrity of one or more contracting parties shall be considered as an aggression against the other parties and shall give rise to a duty of assistance and relief of all parties, individually or collectively, including the use of armed force to restore and ensure security within the area covered by the Alliance.”
In July 2024, the three countries finalised the creation of the confederation in Niger, and broadened the scope of integration by aiming to enhance mutual defence, economic cooperation, and cultural integration amongst its members.
These developments sprang from the backdrop of a string of coups in former French colonies in West Africa from the beginning of the decade, including in the three countries. Each of them had been rocked by national instability that arose from a combination of political unrest, extreme poverty and high costs of living in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, insecurity stemming from Salafi jihadist and other forms of insurgency. In addition, there they had also all witnessed mass protests against French military bases and neocolonialist exploitation.
The United Nations (UN), the African Union (AU), ECOWAS, United States, France and other EU countries condemned the coups in each of those countries. This went with sanctions, withdrawal of aid, suspensions from the AU and ECOWAS, cancellation of trade and loan offer agreements, suspensions of security cooperation by France and the US, border closures by surrounding ECOWAS member States and even threats of an ECOWAS invasion led by Nigeria.
While the reactions were not exactly the same for all the AES countries, the international atmosphere was antagonistic. Threats made by ECOWAS in August 2023, to military intervene if the coup was not reversed was a strong catalyst amongst others, for the signing of the mutual defence pact by the three nations in Bamako, Mali that same year.
The significance of the alliance is a subject of debate among working-class activists, radical youths, Pan-Africanists, socialists and Marxists. Some argue that the confederation and subsequent actions by the leaders of these military regimes to expel French troops are examples of anti-imperialist or anti-neocolonialist, pan-Africanist resistance.
And there are others who believe that the military juntas are just disgruntled members of the local ruling who saw opportunities to take power while using nationalist rhetoric to secure legitimacy. This argument is buttressed by the fact that some member countries of the alliance have resumed military cooperation with France and even continue to allow the United States Africa Command (AFRICOM) to operate within their territories.
Also, as the security cooperation with Russia can also be seen as an example of changing one master for another, instead of the rhetoric of simply reasserting sovereignty.
The fact of the matter is that the situation in the Sahel states and the alliance is rather complex. There are dynamics specific to each of the three countries and there are general ones.
For example, Colonel Traore of Burkina Faso has a history of radical views in the mould of Thomas Sankara. But, General Tchiani of Niger was the head of the presidential guard for twelve years and executed the coup only when he was about to be sacked.
Also, while a lot has been said about the anti-imperialist orientation of these states, it is actually the people that had been waging battles against French interests in the region, years before the coups. Caught between international condemnation and the mass anger against French imperialism, the military juntas have little choice but to promote this popular view, to win the hearts of the people.
The same logic can be found in the establishment of the confederation. The integration that goes with the confederation has also further deepened the anti-imperialist consciousness of working people in the West African region.
The specific circumstances or contradictions that inform the relationships of the military juntas with other countries are largely shaped by global geopolitics. They have turned to Russia as an opponent power to Western imperialism, particularly France–but with its own interests as well.
It is important to talk about ECOWAS member states, and Nigeria in particular, in relation to the AES. The economic structure of ECOWAS and AES show similar resource extraction and export-oriented economies, with mineral and oil and gas exports responsible for a large percentage of government revenue.
Also, they have agriculture as the single largest source of employment, with states like Nigeria and Ghana being slightly richer because of larger populations and access to coastal ports- which makes shutting borders to landlocked AES countries even more callous and inhumane. They possess similar social structure as well, having close levels of poverty, huge unemployment, inequality, insurgency and corrupt ruling classes. It is the poor people in the Sahel states that suffer from the sanctions that have been put in place against these countries, not the ruling class or military junta.
As socialists and working-class activists in Africa, we must realise that the total liberation of Africa can be won and defended only by we, the working masses, ourselves. Our anti-imperialist politics must be rooted in anti-capitalist struggle and our fight to win the battle of democracy. And in Nigeria and across ECOWAS and AU countries, we must call for all sanctions on the Sahel states to be dropped as these impact more on working people.
by Emmanuel EDOMWONYI
