The Alliance of Sahel States (AES) is located in the Sahel region of West Africa, spanning a belt that separates the Sahara Desert to the north from the tropical regions to the south. Specifically, the AES is composed of three sovereign nations: Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger.

The Second Industrial Revolution marked the transition of capitalism into its highest stage, where European oligarchies violently partitioned Africa to extract surplus capital and seize raw materials like rubber, copper, petroleum, and cotton to feed their domestic production lines.

Independence gave the scramble’s borders to three states: all three were carved out of French West Africa, and all three raised their own flags in 1960 — Niger on 3 August, Upper Volta two days later, Mali that September.