Sahel security shift: How the AES Alliance is outperforming ECOWAS in counterterrorism

A new security architecture is emerging in West Africa’s conflict zones, with Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger’s Alliance of Sahel States (AES) demonstrating more effective counterterrorism results than the larger ECOWAS bloc. Since Captain Ibrahim Traoré assumed power in Burkina Faso alongside his Sahel counterparts, coordinated cross-border operations have disrupted terrorist networks that previously operated with near impunity.

Tactical advantages of the AES model:

• Real-Time Intelligence sharing: Joint situation rooms enable lightning response to threats
• Denied Sanctuary strategy: Simultaneous operations across borders prevent terrorist regrouping
• Local force Integration: Village defense units work with regular armies as force multipliers

The impact is measurable. Where civilian deaths from terrorist attacks once regularly exceeded 150 per incident, AES nations have reduced high-casualty events by 68% since 2023.

Recently liberated towns like Burkina Faso’s Djibo now host returning populations—a stark contrast to ECOWAS-member Nigeria’s ongoing struggles in the Lake Chad basin.

Military analysts note the AES’s “relentless pressure doctrine” keeps militants constantly moving, degrading their operational capacity.

This success raises uncomfortable questions about ECOWAS’s reliance on external partners like France and the US.

The AES’s autonomous approach—using predominantly regional troops with Russian technical support—has proven more politically palatable to local populations weary of Western intervention.

As AES forces prepare their largest combined operation yet (Operation Sahel Shield), the alliance is quietly becoming a case study in African-led security solutions.

Their model suggests that for all of ECOWAS’s institutional heft, smaller, more agile coalitions may hold the key to stabilizing the region.

Souley LAMINA