Africa’s Sahel Crisis: Why Silence Around Military Alliances Could Cost the Continent Dearly
Editor’s note: In this piece, Titilope T. Anifowoshe Esq. looks at how recent military alliances in the Sahel are quietly shifting Africa’s political landscape. The 'LegalEagle' examines why silence around coups endangers democracy and the role of young citizens.
Africa has entered a dangerous season not merely of political instability, but of moral confusion.
I remember a freezing winter evening in Tianjin, China, sitting in the cramped cubicle of a Ugandan friend, when I met a West African sister from Burkina Faso. What began as a casual conversation turned into a two-hour ideological battle: democracy versus military rule, ECOWAS versus juntas, legitimacy versus force. That night crystallised something unsettling: Africa is gradually normalising the abnormal.
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Across the continent, coups are no longer treated as aberrations; they are increasingly rationalized as necessary corrections. The formation of the Alliance of Sahel States (AES) by Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger has accelerated this normalization. What should have provoked sustained continental debate instead passed with muted reactions, fragmented commentary, and alarming indifference. This silence, more than the alliance itself, is what should concern us as Africans.
Pan-Africanism was never meant to be passive. It was born in resistance to colonialism, to domination, to imposed silence. From Kwame Nkrumah to Julius Nyerere, Africa’s unity was imagined as one anchored in dignity, popular sovereignty, and collective responsibility. Today, that vision is being tested.
It is not difficult to understand why some Africans feel drawn to military interventions. Democratic failure across parts of the continent has been profound. Elections have too often produced leaders detached from the lived realities of citizens. Leaders who preside over shrinking opportunities, expanding corruption, and growing inequality. But understanding frustration must never become endorsement of force.
Military regimes promise order but deliver fear. They offer discipline but abolish accountability. They claim to protect sovereignty while dismantling the very institutions that give sovereignty meaning.
Africa’s history is instructive. From Nigeria’s long years of military rule, to Ghana’s coups of the 1970s, to Liberia’s descent from a coup into civil war, the lesson is consistent: governance by the gun hollows out the state. Even where initial public enthusiasm exists, it fades quickly when repression replaces participation.
When the AES was formed in 2023, it was framed as a security pact against terrorism and foreign interference. Yet today, the Sahel remains one of the most violent regions in the world, accounting for over 40% of global terrorism-related deaths. Large swathes of territory in Mali and Burkina Faso remain outside state control. Economic hardship has deepened. Diplomatic isolation has grown.
This forces a difficult but necessary question: What kind of integration are we building in Africa?
Pan-Africanism that unites juntas without empowering citizens is not liberation; it is elite solidarity in uniform. Regional cooperation must strengthen people, institutions, and rights, not entrench regimes that silence dissent and postpone elections indefinitely.
A fractured ECOWAS does not weaken “the West” alone; it weakens Africa’s collective capacity, our markets, our security frameworks, our youth mobility, and our democratic norms. No African sub-region thrives in isolation.
One of the most enduring lessons of Young Political Leadership School Africa (YPLSA) is this: Democracy must work for Africans, but Africans must also work for democracy.
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Democracy is not self-executing. It demands vigilance, participation, and courage, especially from young people. YPLSA teaches that leadership is not about charisma or conquest, but about service, restraint, and accountability. That bad leaders do not justify bad systems. That institutions, once broken, are far harder to rebuild than to reform.
This is where the example of Eddie Jarwolo becomes instructive. In Liberia’s darkest moments, when authoritarian tendencies threatened civic space, Eddie Jarwolo chose resistance not with violence, but with principled youth activism. He reminded a generation that silence in the face of injustice is complicity, and that patriotism sometimes demands confrontation with power.
Some argue that military rulers enjoy popular support. But history urges caution. Public celebration under armed rule is often coerced, performative, and temporary. An unarmed population does not freely oppose men with rifles. Smiles become survival tools. Applause becomes insurance.
Behind every coup lies a complex web of economic interests, displaced elites, and opportunistic actors who benefit from disorder. Africa’s tragedy is not merely leadership failure; it is the persistent capture of the state by narrow interests at the expense of the public good.
We, the youths of Africa, stand at a crossroad. We are not choosing between “Western democracy” and “African authoritarianism.” That framing is dishonest.
We are choosing between Reforming broken democratic systems or Normalising governance without consent. The consequences of failed democracy should be electoral defeat, judicial sanction, and civic pressure, not coups, curfews, and constitutions suspended at dawn.
Pan-Africanism, at its core, is about shared destiny. The instability of the Sahel is not a Sahelian problem alone. It is a continental warning.
Africa does NOT need more strongmen. It needs stronger institutions. It does NOT need louder guns. It needs braver citizens.
The silence surrounding the Sahel Alliance must be broken, not with hysteria, but with reasoned, principled engagement. Africa’s future will not be secured by men in uniform, but by generations committed to law, justice, and accountable leadership.
If Pan-Africanism is to mean anything in this century, it must stand firmly on the side of the people, not the gun. And if Africa’s youth fail to speak now, history will record not just the rise of juntas but the absence of courage when it mattered most
Titilope Anifowoshe, aka LegalEagle, is a lawyer and Ambassador of Politics With Value. She writes from Lagos, Nigeria. titilopeanny@gmail.com
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Legit.ng.
Proofreading by James Ojo, copy editor at Legit.ng.
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