Alliance of Sahel States

The Alliance of Sahel States (French: Alliance des États du Sahel, AES) is a confederation formed between Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso. It originated as a mutual defense pact created on 16 September 2023 following the 2023 Nigerien crisis, in which the West African political bloc ECOWAS threatened to intervene militarily to restore civilian rule after a coup in Niger earlier that year. All three member states are former members of ECOWAS and currently under the control of juntas following a string of successful coups, the 2021 Malian coup d'état, the September 2022 Burkina Faso coup d'état, and the 2023 Niger coup d'état. The confederation was established on 6 July 2024.

Within the territory of the AES, there are various terrorist and insurgent groups including ISSP, Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin, and various separatist rebels fighting in Northern Mali such as the Azawad Movement. In 2024, the AES cut off military relations with Western powers and replaced Western military forces on their territory with Russian mercenaries, specifically the Wagner Group. It has also cut diplomatic ties and expelled ambassadors from some Western countries such as Sweden following critical statements regarding its rapprochement with Russia.

The confederation's stated goal is to pool resources to build energy and communications infrastructure, establish a common market, implement a monetary union under proposed currency, allow free movement of persons, enable industrialization, and invest in agriculture, mines and the energy sector, with the end goal of federalizing into a single sovereign state. The confederation is against neocolonialism and has demonstrated this with acts such as downgrading the status of the French language and renaming of colonial street names. It is also anti-French and anti-ECOWAS in outlook, as it disagrees with many of their policies.

The economic outlook for AES countries is positive (Burkina 5.494%, Mali 3.751%, and Niger 9.869% GDP growth in 2024), with Niger becoming the 3rd fastest growing economy in the world and the fastest growing economy in Africa in 2024. The nations of the AES are among the least developed in the world as measured by the Human Development Index. Factors such as prolonged periods of ineffective governance, external geopolitical influences, jihadist groups, and imbalanced trade agreements that provided minimal infrastructure improvement or benefits to local populations, contributed to economic and social challenges in these countries. By definition AES countries are considered undemocratic as their military governments came to power by coup. The UK based NGO Amnesty International has accused AES governments of engaging in routine human rights violations including arbitrary detentions, forced disappearances, and massacres of civilians. AES states have all pledged to suspend military rule and return to civilian rule, but these plans have been delayed in each of these countries as the governments work towards increased integration.

A project to set up passport and identity card travel documents between the three member countries of the AES is part of a more advanced integration between the member states before approval of the project by the three heads of state of the member countries.