APSACO 2025: the emergence of the AES, a major turning point in West African security
Ten years after its launch, the African Peace and Security Annual Conference (APSACO) opened in Salé, near Rabat, under the theme: “Ten Years On: Trends, Evolutions and Continuities in the Peace and Security Landscape in Africa.” Organized by the Moroccan think tank Policy Center for the New South (PCNS) at Mohammed VI Polytechnic University, this tenth edition placed at the heart of debates the relationship between the Alliance of Sahel States (AES) and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
For Sampala Balima, Deputy Director General of the National Centre for Strategic Studies of Burkina Faso, the emergence of the AES and the withdrawal of Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger from ECOWAS constitute the major security event of the last decade.
According to her, this development has reconfigured the West African security space into two distinct blocs, opening a new phase in cooperation and collective defense mechanisms.
This analysis was contested by Garba Abdoul Azizou, associate researcher at CECRI-UCL and former special advisor to Nigerien president Mohamed Bazoum. For him, the creation of the AES has not fundamentally changed the nature of the threats.
He believes that current security challenges require broader cooperation involving the AES, ECOWAS, and the Gulf of Guinea states.
Discussions also focused on the effectiveness of regional frameworks. Sampala Balima distinguished between security cooperation and collective security, judging that ECOWAS’s collective defense model has not produced the expected results.
She noted, however, that the AES also relies on a similar mechanism, creating an unprecedented situation of coexistence between two security frameworks facing the same cross-border threats.
Sharkdam Wapmuk, professor at the Nigeria Defence Academy, argued for strengthening regional integration, stating that African states are “stronger together than divided.”
Sidi Mohamed Sidi, professor at the University of Nouakchott, described the AES as an expression of “neo‑sovereignism” while emphasizing that the evolution of relations between Sahelian states and regional organizations will be decisive for future stability.
The prospect of a rapprochement between the AES and ECOWAS was raised. Sampala Balima argued for permanent dialogue based on the interests of the populations.
Despite their differences, all speakers agreed on one point: the terrorist threat remains transnational and requires a collective response combining security, political, and socio‑economic dimensions.
Neil Camara
