General Secretary of the Socialist Movement of Ghana and a member of the Pan-African Progressive Front (PPF), Kwesi Pratt Jnr., has urged Africans and progressive forces worldwide to rally behind the Alliance of Sahel States (AES), describing it as a “beacon of sovereignty” on the continent.
Delivering a keynote address at the public lecture “Forging a New Pan African Path: The Sahel Seeks Sovereignty” in Johannesburg, South Africa, on August 22, 2025, Pratt praised the bold stance taken by Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger in forming the AES.
“The Alliance of Sahel States represents a true revolutionary project in our time. It is a declaration that Africans can defend their independence, assert self-determination, and build a new path for development without subservience to external powers,” Mr. Pratt stated.
He emphasised that the AES serves as a model for all progressive forces in Africa, highlighting that the Sahel region faces numerous threats, with terrorism being the most urgent. Pratt asserted that such terrorism is backed by certain international forces, explicitly naming Ukraine. He cited statements made by AES representatives at the United Nations and referenced three official communications from the Malian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 2025 as evidence.
He stated that “Ukrainian intelligence, which operates openly in the region, uses its technology to provide all intelligence information to the jihadists fighting in the Sahel.” He stressed that Ukraine must be “expelled from the Sahel, and there should be no relations with them anywhere in Africa.”
Furthermore, Pratt underscored the urgent necessity for African countries, particularly those in the Sahel, to reclaim their sovereignty, resist external domination, and pursue people-centered development.
The lecture, held on the eve of the alliance’s second anniversary, brought together leaders of progressive movements, trade unions, and youth groups.
The renowned Pan-Africanist stressed that solidarity with the AES is not just a regional necessity but a continental responsibility.
“Supporting the AES is about safeguarding Africa’s dignity. Their victory will inspire others, and their defeat will embolden imperialist forces against all of us,” he added.
The Johannesburg gathering also marked the launch of a new Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research dossier, “The Sahel Seeks Sovereignty”, which provides an in-depth study of the alliance and its significance for Pan-African liberation.
The veteran journalist also accused Ukraine of supporting terrorist activities in the Sahel region, warning that its involvement undermines African sovereignty and stability.
During the plenary session, Mr. Pratt joined Mikaela Nhondo Erskog of the Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research and Vuyolwethu Toli, NUMSA Head of Education Department, to lead a discussion on the seismic anti-imperialist shifts in the Sahel.
The event also featured a cultural performance by NUMSA shop steward Lawrence Phakathi from the union’s JC Bez Region.
Comrades from various working-class organizations described the rise of the AES as a bold move toward sovereignty and self-determination.
In the buildup to the International Day of Solidarity with the Peoples of the Alliance of Sahel States on September 16, participants discussed the importance of standing with the people of the Sahel in their confrontation with imperialism.
In September 2023, the heads of state of Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger met in Bamako, Mali’s capital, following coups led by progressive factions of the military, to sign the Charter of Liptako-Gourma, establishing the Alliance of Sahel States (AES).
Article VI of the charter stipulates: “Any violation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of one or more contracting parties shall be considered an aggression against the other parties and shall give rise to a duty of assistance and relief by all parties, individually or collectively, including the use of armed force, to restore and ensure security within the area covered by the alliance.”
The formation of the AES was a direct response to the threat of military intervention in Niger by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) following the country’s widely supported military coup. ECOWAS, along with the African Union (AU), imposed sanctions and suspended the memberships of all three AES member states following their respective coups: Mali in August 2020, Burkina Faso in January 2022, and Niger in July 2023.
In January 2024, Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger jointly announced their withdrawal from ECOWAS. The decision, which became official in January 2025, was justified as follows:
“The brave peoples of Burkina, Mali, and Niger note with deep regret and great disappointment that the ECOWAS has strayed from the ideals of its founding fathers and from Pan-Africanism. It no longer serves the interests of its peoples but has instead become a threat to its member states and populations, whose happiness it is supposed to guarantee.”
The leaders of the AES—Mali’s Assimi Goïta, Burkina Faso’s Ibrahim Traoré, and Niger’s Abdourahamane Tchiani – are united by their emergence from popular coups and their impatience with ECOWAS’s pro-Western politics. They represent a new generation of military officers channeling widespread public frustration with French neocolonialism, and their withdrawal from ECOWAS is rooted in the bloc’s historical limitations.
Though ECOWAS was established in 1975 with the Pan-African vision of leaders like Ghana’s General Ignatius Kutu Acheampong, who promised that the new regional organization would “remove centuries of division and artificial barriers imposed on West Africa from outside,” it remained a limited project. In reality, it focused on economic issues, such as creating a common market, without serious aims for political integration.
This limited scope was derailed by internal divisions and, more significantly, competing external loyalties. The parallel Francophone West African Economic Community (CEAO), backed by France, often subverted the bloc’s goals. This was demonstrated during the Chadian crisis of 1979–1981, when France and the CEAO undermined Nigeria’s peacekeeping mission, turning it into a failure for ECOWAS and a victory for their own bloc. Similarly, existing military pacts between France and its former colonies hindered efforts to create a common defense strategy.
It is this history of internal division and persistent foreign influence that shapes the AES perspective today. The alliance argues that ECOWAS now acts as a regional enforcer of external interests, betraying its founding principles by falling “under the influence of foreign powers.”
Consequently, at the Niamey summit where the AES was launched, the member states affirmed that their withdrawal from ECOWAS was definitive, even as they planned transitions to civilian rule.
For AES members, 2023 marked a collective rupture with failed security arrangements (such as the G5 Sahel), the delegitimized leadership of regional bodies like ECOWAS and the African Union (AU), and long-standing unequal political entanglements with the European Union, France, and the United States—all underpinned by decades of neoliberal economic policy.
Explore the world of impactful news with CitiNewsroom on WhatsApp!
Click on the link to join the Citi Newsroom channel for curated, meaningful stories tailored just for YOU:
https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaCYzPRAYlUPudDDe53x
No spam, just the stories that truly matter! #StayInformed #CitiNewsroom #CNRDigital
