FactBox:

Sahel States, coups, Russia, jihadist insurgencies

Between 2020 and 2023, three West African nations—Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger—experienced military coups that dramatically reshaped the region's political and geopolitical landscape.

In Mali, the first coup took place on 18 August 2020, when President Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta was ousted amid widespread protests over corruption, insecurity, and economic decline. A transitional civilian-led government was installed, but it was deposed less than a year later, on 24 May 2021, by Colonel Assimi Goïta, who accused civilian leaders of sidelining the military in a cabinet reshuffle. Goïta has since solidified his grip on power and postponed elections, prompting condemnation from ECOWAS and Western powers. Under his leadership, Mali expelled French forces, severed military ties with Paris, and turned decisively toward Moscow—initially via the Wagner Group and now through the Kremlin-backed Africa Corps.

In Burkina Faso, Lieutenant Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba seized power on 24 January 2022, citing the government's failure to quell jihadist insurgencies. But he, too, was overthrown just eight months later, on 30 September, by junior officers who accused him of ineffectiveness. Captain Ibrahim Traoré, then in his mid-30s, emerged as the new leader and has since announced an indefinite delay to elections. Like Mali, Burkina Faso has expelled French forces, adopted a staunchly anti-Western stance, and deepened its security ties with Russia, aligning closely with both Bamako and Niamey.

Niger, long regarded as one of the Sahel’s more stable partners by the West, succumbed to a coup on 26 July 2023. General Abdourahamane Tiani, commander of the presidential guard, overthrew President Mohamed Bazoum and detained him, citing deteriorating security and mismanagement. The move sparked international backlash, particularly from ECOWAS and the United States. In the months that followed, Niger’s new junta cut defense ties with France, ordered the withdrawal of French and U.S. troops, and pursued closer relations with Russia, Iran, and Türkiye, while cracking down on civil society and pro-Western media.