Ghana’s double diplomatic offensive within the Sahel international locations | EUROtoday
LE March 10, 2025, in Ouagadougou, the Ghanaian president John Dramani Mahama accomplished a diplomatic tour which led him successively to Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso. Objective: to revive the hyperlinks between the members of the Alliance of the States of the Sahel (AES) and the remainder of West Africa, after the rupture of relations in the beginning of the yr. The three international locations led by navy junts left ECOWAS in 2025 to create an alliance supposed to satisfy the safety challenges. However, this mediation initiative carried by Ghana takes place in a way more advanced context, marked by political tensions, financial points and more and more entangled geopolitical methods.
The determination of the three international locations to go away the regional group adopted the navy coup in Niger in July 2023. This gesture plunged relations right into a deep disaster, with the specter of navy intervention and the imposition of extreme financial sanctions. Even if these sanctions have been lifted since, tensions stay, fueled by the sensation of abandonment of the states of the Sahel within the face of the intensification of jihadist assaults. The leaders of the AES criticized the lack of the regional group to assist them successfully and their proximity to France, a relationship which they now think about counterproductive.
After having been re-elected in December 2024, John Dramani Mahama signed a return in power on the Ghanaian political scene, after his defeat in 2016 in one of many West African international locations to essentially the most rooted democratic custom. This return intervenes in a posh regional context the place Mahama, together with his expertise as a mediator in crises in Gambia and Guinea, once more places on his position as a conciliator. In Bamako, Niamey and Ouagadougou, he highlighted the necessity for “common ground” between the AES and the opposite nations of West Africa. Mahama burdened that the popularity of the AES shouldn’t be perceived as a easy concession, however as a strategic strategy, geared toward restoring a stability and restoring peace in a area shaken by geopolitical tensions.
Underlying financial points
Behind this diplomatic mission, financial points are additionally essential. Ghana, coastal international locations, has a serious strategic asset that the Sahelian states, all landlocked, can’t ignore: direct entry to ports. “Our objective is to streamline the free movement of goods and people and to facilitate the transit of goods and goods from Burkina Faso from the Ghana corridor,” mentioned the Ghanaian president, quoted by the Burkinabé presidency after his keep. A number of hours earlier, the pinnacle of state of Ghana mentioned he was “available to Mali”. This initiative might stimulate the economies of those international locations whereas strengthening bilateral relations with Ghana. The growth of logistics infrastructure and the combination of commerce ought to thus represent levers to intensify the affect of Accra within the area.
This query of reintegration goes far past easy political reconciliation. It relies on a redefinition of financial exchanges and sub-regional energy relations. Ghana is effectively conscious that to keep up stability, it’s not sufficient for an institutional strategy: it takes pragmatic collaboration within the subject, which incorporates the financial sector as an engine of integration.
Towards a Sahelian response to exterior influences
Insecurity within the Sahel continues to worsen, and terrorism stays the dominant menace. John Dramani Mahama insisted on the urgency of a coordinated response in opposition to the jihadist “Hydre”, pleading for a pooling of means when it comes to intelligence, protection and safety. But past navy cooperation, the Ghanaian president has a broader imaginative and prescient: that of a strategic autonomy rid of exterior interference.
The leaders of AES, drained by the ineffectiveness of conventional mechanisms within the face of the rise in violence, now search to construction themselves with out relying on the good powers. If they continue to be members of the African Union, they wish to redefine their relations with regional blocks and hint their very own path to managed safety. Mahama, as an knowledgeable mediator, tries to assist this dynamic whereas avoiding perilous isolation for the area.
In this geopolitical upheaval, Ghana, a historic pillar of the West African block, adjusts its technique. Where Abuja advocates firmness within the face of the Sahelian junts, Accra performs the mediation card. A calculated posture which permits him not solely to calm tensions, but additionally to determine himself as a central actor within the redefinition of regional balances.
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However, the reintegration of AES international locations inside regional constructions stays a mission strewn with pitfalls. The three Sahelian junts have repeatedly reaffirmed their want to keep up a sure autonomy within the face of exterior pressures, particularly these of the sub-regional group. Political, strategic and safety variations between these states and the remainder of the area stay a serious impediment to the normalization of relations.
Can Mahama succeed the place others have failed? The query stays complete. So far, mediation makes an attempt have come up in opposition to deep divergences, making any illusory rapprochement. But the Ghanaian president depends on a key lever: the alliance between financial diplomacy and safety points. A daring guess that would effectively redraw the balances between West Africa and the Sahel.
https://www.lepoint.fr/afrique/la-double-offensive-diplomatique-du-ghana-dans-les-pays-du-sahel-11-03-2025-2584497_3826.php