Since 2020, a series of popular military coups in the Sahel region of Africa has bought to power governments that are seeking a path to establish their own countries’ sovereignty.
The coups that took place were in: Mali in August 2020; Burkina Faso in January 2022; and Niger in July 2023. Following these events, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), along with the African Union (AU), imposed sanctions and suspended the memberships of all three states.
In September 2023, in response to the threat of military intervention in Niger by ECOWAS, the heads of state of Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger established the Alliance of Sahel States (AES).
The Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research has published an excellent dossier on the current struggle of the Sahel states, titled ‘The Sahel Seeks Sovereignty’. It is available in multiple languages from here:
https://thetricontinental.org/dossier-sahel-alliance-sovereignty/
In this short video, Mikaela Nhondo Erskog, in discussion with Dae-Han Song, explains how these states are trying to establish their sovereignty, whilst having to navigate a legacy of dependency and internal-external security challenges.
Mikaela Nhondo Erkog is a researcher and editor at Tricontinental: Institute for Research. She is also an educator and researcher at Pan Africa Today, the regional articulation of the International Peoples Assembly, and is a PhD student at the School of International Relations and Public Affairs at Fudan University, Shanghai. She is a member of the international No Cold War collective.
Dae-Han Song is a part of the International Strategy Center and the Korea Policy Institute. He is a member of the international No Cold War collective.
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