Shifting Dynamics: How the UN is Adapting Its Role and Footprint in the Sahel

Mali’s Assimi Goita, Niger’s General Abdourahamane Tchiani and Burkina Faso’s Captain Ibrahim Traore are united by a push for greater sovereignty and strategic autonomy. For a decade, the United Nations’s most visible role in the Sahel was its peacekeeping mission in Mali. The United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) was established by the Security Council in 2013, but its mandate was terminated in June 2023 at the request of Mali’s transitional government, with the mission completing its withdrawal by the end of that year.

However, the end of MINUSMA did not halt the UN’s engagement with the region. Its political work persists through the UN Office for West Africa and the Sahel (UNOWAS), while the broader UN system continues its humanitarian and development efforts. The primary change lies in the shifting space of engagement. Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger formally departed from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) on January 29, 2025, while deepening their cooperation through the Alliance of Sahel States (AES) to place sovereignty and strategic autonomy at the core of their political message.

Despite governments increasingly insisting on handling security and political affairs independently, humanitarian pressures such as displacement, insecurity, and food insecurity continue to cross borders. This raises questions about what influence the UN can wield following the departure of its once-substantial peacekeeping force. Today, the UN’s role focuses less on troops and more on diplomacy, mediation, humanitarian assistance, and development.

UNOWAS operates as a special political mission engaged in preventive diplomacy, good offices, political mediation, conflict prevention, and political dialogue support. According to Mubarak Aliyu, a political and security analyst in Nigeria, the influence the UN can exercise is narrow because the AES states removed mechanisms that previously gave outside institutions leverage, leaving ECOWAS and the Rome Statute behind while building their own confederation and joint force.

In February 2026, the Security Council extended the mandate of UNOWAS until January 31, 2029, while requesting an independent strategic review to be finalised by September 30, 2026. This review coincides with a West African political landscape reshaped by military governments, new regional alliances, and Russia's Africa Corps. Aliyu noted that Russia’s Africa Corps helped Mali’s and Niger’s military governments survive shocks the UN was never positioned to influence, functioning primarily as regime protection rather than counterinsurgency, and extending Moscow's leverage into the Security Council chamber.

Kabir Adamu, founder and managing director of Beacon Security and Innovations Limited, suggested that the UN should pivot its approach from large deployments of UN troops toward diplomatic and development solutions, promoting effective security sector governance and reform to address root causes of fragility and conflict.

The exit from ECOWAS has altered the regional architecture. While the UN continues to work with regional bodies like ECOWAS and the African Union, maintaining vital political channels has grown more challenging as governments no longer share a single political framework. Adamu emphasized that the UN should work with and through regional organisations and groups, prioritizing pragmatic and inclusive mediation while bolstering frameworks like the Multinational Joint Task (MNJTF) and the Accra Initiative.

Meanwhile, the retreat of peacekeepers has not eliminated ongoing regional challenges including armed violence, organised crime, food insecurity, and climate pressures. Humanitarian work remains a cornerstone of continued UN engagement, focusing on local and regional capacity. Adamu stressed the importance of doubling down on core UNISS pillars of governance, resilience, and security by integrating climate-peace initiatives and empowering local capacities.

As the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly opens on September 8, 2026, with the General Debate scheduled for September 22, the UN finds itself acting closer to an advocate and service provider than a shaper of outcomes in a Sahel marked by military leadership, the AES, and shifting security dynamics.