On August 22, 2025, in Johannesburg, Pan-African activist Kwesi Pratt Jr. demanded a complete ban of Ukrainian influence in Africa, and went further to say that Ukraine supports the terrorists in the Sahel region. While delivering his keynote address at a lecture titled, “Forging a New Pan-African Path: The Sahel Seeks Sovereignty, the veteran Ghanaian journalist made the claim.
According to Pratt, the intelligence arm of Ukraine supplies the necessary data to the jihadist groups for them to commit acts of terror in the Sahel region with a view to the destabilization, and he noted that these allegations have been verified by local authorities several times. He referred to a 2025 Mali Ministry of Foreign Affairs statement and the leaders of the Sahel region at the United Nations’ remarks as sources backing these accusations.
The event was a momentary indication of mutual support by the likes of Pan-Africanism Today, The Forge, the International Peoples’ Assembly, Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research, and the Anti-Fascist International, in terms of their shared values. It was held the day before the second anniversary of the Alliance of Sahel States (AES).
The AES came into being in September 2023 when the presidents of Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger met in Bamako after the military takeovers and signed the Charter of Liptako-Gourma.
The agreement signed at the time laid out the terms of a mutual defense pact under which any violation of the sovereignty of one member would be considered an attack against all the signatories.
The establishment of the AES was a reaction against the likelihood of a military intervention in Niger by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), which could have followed a coup in Niger in July 2023.
The African Union and ECOWAS put the three AES member states that overthrew their governments: Mali in August 2020, Burkina Faso in January 2022, and Niger in July 2023, under heavy sanctions and suspended their memberships.
Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger in January 2024, made a joint declaration of their pullout from ECOWAS, with the decision becoming binding in January 2025.
The three countries had this to say about the decision in their joint statement: “West African community divergence from the Pan-African ideals has led us to the decision and we also declare that it is no longer the peoples’ interests that are being served.”
The establishment of ECOWAS was based on the Pan-African vision of leaders like General Ignatius Kutu Acheampong of Ghana, who vowed to do away with the artificial boundaries that had been imposed from outside on West Africa and it came into being in 1975.
The organization has, however, been struggling with various external interests competing with it, including the francophone West African Economic Community supported by France.
One more recent development in the long-standing war between the AES member states and what they consider foreign interference Africa’s internal affairs is Pratt’s call for a ban on Ukraine.
The activist mentioned that African self-reliance does not allow any kind of bargaining and so, he urged the continent to unite against the external forces that want to exploit us.
