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Coverage · Central Sahel

Relationship record

Malian Armed Forces (FAMa) — Alliance of Sahel States (AES)

A joint command inaugurated in Bamako and headquartered in Niamey, to which the army contributes a share of an announced six thousand troops.

Security cooperation Since 2025-12-20

Active
Assessed as of
2026-05
Last reviewed
2026-09-28

AssessmentModerate confidence

A described arrangement, not a rating. Vigil publishes no measure of how strong, warm or hostile a relationship is, and no relationship on this site carries a score, a trend or a direction of travel. What is recorded is what the arrangement covers, when it began, what has changed it, and how firmly each of those is established.

Malian Armed Forces (FAMa)Security cooperation withAlliance of Sahel States (AES)Security cooperation with
In short

The Malian army's part in the Alliance of Sahel States' Unified Force — announced in January 2025, inaugurated on 20 December 2025 under a Burkinabè commander, raised to an announced 6,000 troops in February 2026, and credited with joint air strikes in Mali from spring 2026.

A symmetric arrangement: it reads the same from either side. Authored once, on one record.

The arrangement

Status
ActiveIn force and operating. Says nothing about how well it is working, or about which way it is heading.Last material change: 2026-02.
What it covers
DefenceCounter-terrorismInstitutionalCategories the arrangement is documented to include. Not a measure: a relationship covering more of them is described in more detail, not held more firmly.

Summary

The AES Unified Force is the confederation's answer to the question every regional security arrangement here has failed on — whether three armies with the same enemy across the same borders can operate as one. It was announced in January 2025, inaugurated at an air base in Bamako on 20 December 2025 with a Niamey headquarters and a Burkinabè general in command, and its announced strength rose from 5,000 to 6,000 in February 2026. The Malian army's contribution is its share of that figure and of the joint air component; the confederation confirmed joint strikes in Mali in spring 2026. The precedents are not encouraging: the 2017 Liptako-Gourma task force never deployed and the G5 Sahel joint force dissolved when Mali left it in 2022. What is different is that the three states are now aligned politically and share a Russian partner; what is unchanged is that each army is fully committed at home and none has capacity to spare for the others.

Why it matters

If the force operates, the Malian army gains cross-border reach into the Liptako-Gourma it cannot otherwise pursue JNIM and Islamic State Sahel across; if it does not, the confederation's military content is a headquarters. Which of the two is true is one of the module's standing questions, and this record is where the army's part in it is filed.

Related events

Organisations

ForceAES Unified ForceForceMalian Defence and Security Forces (FDS)

Structures through which this relationship operates. Not parties to it — the parties are the two actors above.

What remains unknown

  • No operation attributable to the Unified Force as such — as distinct from national forces acting in coordination — has been independently documented; the joint strikes are the confederation's own confirmation.
  • The national breakdown of the announced strength, and whether the figure describes assigned or available troops, is not published.
  • Command relationships between the joint headquarters and national chains of command are not public.

All Sahel relationships Open in Explore

Sensitivity: public-contextual Confidence: Moderate Sources: Official government statements · Institute for Security Studies (ISS Africa)↗ · Africa Center for Strategic Studies↗ · Established international media reporting Methodology Corrections

Assessed as of — 2026-05 Last reviewed — 2026-09-28