The Alliance of Sahel States: Unified Force, Border Tensions, and Geopolitical Restructuring

The Alliance of Sahel States (AES), comprising Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger, has been undergoing an unprecedented phase of military and diplomatic acceleration since the beginning of 2026. The Unified Force for the Fight Against Terrorism, activated in December 2025 in Bamako under the presidency of General Assimi Goïta with an initial strength of 5,000 soldiers, saw its numbers increased to 6,000 men as early as February 2026. Command has been entrusted to Burkinabé General Daouda Traoré, with a headquarters established in Niamey. This 20% increase in personnel in less than three months reflects the urgent security situation in a region where jihadist groups, particularly Jama'at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) affiliated with Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State Sahel Province (ISSP), continue to multiply deadly attacks against security forces and civilian populations.

In February 2026, JNIM carried out a series of coordinated attacks over an entire week across eastern and northern Burkina Faso, demonstrating increased operational capacity and mobility over vast territorial expanses. Central Sahel remains the epicenter of this endemic violence, with thousands of deaths recorded each year. In the face of this persistent threat, the AES Unified Force distinguishes itself from its predecessors, notably the Joint Force of the G5 Sahel dissolved in December 2023, by its ambition for financial autonomy. Member countries rely on national funding mechanisms such as the Patriotic Support Fund of Burkina Faso and the Solidarity Fund for the Safeguarding of the Homeland of Niger, breaking away from the dependence on external funding that had weakened previous initiatives.

Alongside the consolidation of this force, the AES has deployed 1,500 elite soldiers and air defense units near the border between Niger and Nigeria, a maneuver that has raised significant concern in Washington and Abuja. This deployment follows allegations of surveillance operations conducted by the U.S. military from Nigerian territory, after the United States had to withdraw its approximately 1,000 soldiers from Niger in August 2024, notably losing access to Air Base 201 in Agadez, a major strategic site for drone operations. In February 2026, the Pentagon confirmed the deployment of about 200 American soldiers to Nigeria, approximately 170 kilometers from the Nigerien border, officially for intelligence and training missions. AES leaders warned that any foreign aircraft entering their airspace without authorization would be considered a target, a statement that further strained regional relations.

This border tension is part of a broader context of geopolitical reconfiguration. Since their formal withdrawal from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) on January 29, 2025, AES countries assert a claimed sovereignty and a desire to break from what they perceive as predominant Western influence. The circulation of new AES passports since January 2026 symbolizes this direction. Nigeria, an influential member and current president of ECOWAS, thus finds itself on the front line of an unprecedented diplomatic and military standoff in the region.

Turkey, for its part, has managed to leverage this reconfiguration to consolidate its security presence in the Sahel. On April 7, 2026, Turkish Defense Minister Yaşar Güler received his Nigerien counterpart, General Salifou Mody, in Ankara to sign a new on-site training protocol. This arrangement provides for the deployment of Turkish military instructors directly to Nigerien bases, alongside combat units, marking a significant shift from the training previously conducted in Turkey. The delivery of Bayraktar TB2 drones, initiated in 2022, fits into this logic of close cooperation. Ankara is deploying a layered presence strategy in the region—diplomacy, development, military cooperation—that gives it a flexibility that purely military approaches lack.

It is also important to mention the Russian presence in this complex configuration. In early 2026, Russian personnel reportedly helped repel an attack by militants against Niger's international airport, according to a U.S. Congressional report published in April. Russian instructors are also said to have been deployed in Equatorial Guinea to train presidential guards. This Russian presence adds to that of other actors—Turkey, China, and to a lesser extent the United Arab Emirates—in a multipolar influence game that is redefining Sahelian balances.

On the ground, the challenges remain colossal. Terrorist groups have access to sophisticated weaponry, including drones, and transnational funding networks that are difficult to disrupt. The effectiveness of the Unified Force will depend on its ability to maintain cohesion among national armies, develop effective shared intelligence mechanisms, and cooperate, de facto if not de jure, with neighboring states to cut illicit supply lines. Humanitarian conditions, already catastrophic with millions of displaced persons across the region, continue to deteriorate under the combined effects of violence and food insecurity.

The confederation of the AES, formalized on July 6, 2024, undoubtedly represents a historic turning point for Sahelian sovereignty. It remains to be seen whether this ambition will translate into concrete results on the ground. The transformation of a political alliance into a credible operational force, capable of containing the jihadist threat while managing border tensions with Nigeria and the geopolitical pressures from foreign powers, will be the true test in the months to come. The fate of millions of Sahelian civilians depends on it.