The Alliance of Sahel States: Regional Autonomy-Building amid Security Partnership with Russia

Abstract

This article aims to identify the mechanisms and limits of regional autonomy within the Alliance of Sahel States — comprising Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger — in the context of the expansion of their security partnership with the Russian Federation. The study is structured as a qualitative case study of the Alliance, incorporating a structured comparison of the three member states. The study employs process tracing, qualitative content analysis of the Alliance’s founding documents, ECOWAS and UN materials, and a critical analysis of academic literature and open-source data on military and security cooperation. Regional autonomy is operationalized through institutional, security, diplomatic, and resource dimensions. It has been established that the Alliance has evolved from a collective defense pact, enshrined in the 2023 Lipta-Gurma Charter, into a confederal structure with delegated powers in the areas of defense, diplomacy, and development. The withdrawal of three states from ECOWAS strengthened their freedom of political choice and their ability to shape a separate regional order, but did not eliminate their economic, transportation, and security interdependence with neighboring countries. The partnership with Russia provided access to military instructors, equipment, air defense systems, and Africa Corps personnel, and beginning in 2025, it began transitioning from bilateral relations to a Russia-Alliance format. At the same time, the continuation of large-scale military activity, a lack of domestic funding, differences between national models of cooperation, and the concentration of critical capabilities with an external partner limit the transition from political autonomy to self-sufficient regional security. It is appropriate to define the Alliance as a project of selective regional autonomy. The greatest progress has been made in forming a common political agenda, diplomatic coordination, and the creation of collective defense mechanisms. The Russian security partnership expands the room for maneuver vis-à-vis previous Western partners, but in the absence of a diversified resource base, it is capable of reproducing the asymmetry of external dependence. The scientific novelty lies in distinguishing autonomy from the previous regional order and the autonomous capacity to act, as well as in a comprehensive assessment of the Alliance across four interrelated dimensions.