In 2024, Africa’s sub-regional landscape reflects deepening tensions between normative commitments to regional integration and the emergence of competing political and security alignments. From institutional paralysis to political withdrawals, the coherence of Africa’s regional blocs is being tested. How are regional groupings adapting to these shifts, and what do current developments reveal about the state of regionalism across the continent? This panel will assess the evolution of Africa’s sub-regional orders, focusing on cases where fragmentation has become increasingly visible, notably in the rupture between the Alliance of Sahel States (AES) and ECOWAS. It will explore whether Africa’s regional architectures can accommodate internal dissent without losing strategic relevance, and how competing political visions and external influences are shaping new dynamics of cooperation—or disintegration. Can regional blocs maintain their role as engines of integration and stability, or are we witnessing a drift toward selective alignments and ad hoc diplomacy?
RELATED CONTENT
-
October 21, 2025تعيش منطقة الساحل مرحلة غير مسبوقة من تصاعد العنف السياسي والإرهاب، إذ أصبحت منذ 2025 مسؤولة عن أكثر من نصف الوفيات المرتبطة بالإرهاب عالميًا. هذا التحول يعكس فشل الدول في استعادة ثقة المواطنين، وانهيار المؤسسات الأمنية، وتراجع الوجود الدولي، ما أفسح المجال لتوسع الجماعات المسلحة مثل “نصرة الإسلام والمسلمين” و”تنظيم الدولة في الصحراء الكبرى”. جاءت الانقلابات المتتالية في مالي وبوركينا فاسو والنيجر كنتيجة لأزمات داخلية بنيوية عمّقت هشاشة الحكمتشهد المنطقة تفاوتًا في أنماط العنف؛ فبور ... -
September 26, 2025Rida Lyammouri, Senior Fellow at the Policy Center for the New South, examines the rise of drone use by non-state armed groups in the Sahel. The discussion highlights how civilian drones ... -
September 25, 2025This episode examines the African Peace and Security Architecture amid evolving threats, questioning its effectiveness against modern crises such as terrorism, environmental stress, disinformation, and cyber risks. It highlights institutional and political gaps, exploring the chal... -
July 18, 2025Dans cet épisode du podcast APSACO, Monsieur Dahane Ahmed Mahmoud, Directeur de l’Institut Mauritanien d’Études Stratégiques, aborde les défis sécuritaires auxquels fait face le pays ains ...
-
July 14, 2025Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal Muslimin (JNIM), alongside the Front de Libération de l’Azawad (FLA), has pioneered drone warfare in the Sahel–evolving from its first armed strike in September 2023 to over a dozen coordinated operations by June 2025. JNIM’s drone-enabled attacks–spanning kamikaze strikes, ISR- guided assaults, and visual propaganda–now target Mali, Burkina Faso, and Togo. It is the only known armed group in Africa–and one of the few globally–to conduct sustained, opera ... -
June 19, 2025In 2024, Africa’s most protracted and destabilizing conflicts, Sudan, Libya, and the Great Lakes, continue to evolve in ways that challenge regional stability and expose the limits of existing peace frameworks. Despite diplomatic efforts and shifting international attention, these crise...
-
June 19, 2025In 2024, Africa’s sub-regional landscape reflects deepening tensions between normative commitments to regional integration and the emergence of competing political and security alignments. From institutional paralysis to political withdrawals, the coherence of Africa’s regional blocs is...
-
April 24, 2024The Alliance of Sahel States (AES), created on September 16, 2023, brings together Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso under a mutual defense agreement. The signing of the charter relating to this alliance, which bears the name Liptako-Gourma, was followed by meetings and plans for initiatives that will push the new structure further towards statutes for the alliance, transforming it into a confederation. As an intermediate measure, the three states have already envisaged the creation of ... -
March 22, 2024L’Alliance des États du Sahel (AES), créée le 16 septembre 2023, rassemble dans un accord de défense mutuelle le Mali, le Niger et le Burkina Faso. La signature de la charte afférente à cette alliance qui porte le nom du Liptako-Gourma a été suivie de rencontre et de projets d’initiatives qui poussent plus loin la nouvelle structure vers des statuts de l’alliance pour la transformer en confédération. Comme mesure intermédiaire, les trois États ont d’ores et déjà envisa ... -
October 26, 2023Les Dialogues Stratégiques, une collaboration entre HEC Center for Geopolitics et Policy Center fort he New South, représentent une plateforme d'analyse et d'échange biannuelle réunissant des experts, des praticiens, des décideurs politiques, ainsi que el monde universitaire et les médias au service d'une réflexion critique et approfondie sur les tendances politiques mondiales et sur une problématique d'intérêt régional, d'importance commune à al fois pour l'Europe et l'Afrique. Ce ...
