The African Union (AU) Peace and Security Council (PSC) is scheduled to meet on Monday to review the political transitions in Burkina Faso and Niger amid continued security challenges in the Sahel.
The session is expected to open with remarks by Rebecca Amuge Otengo, Uganda’s Permanent Representative to the AU and Chairperson of the PSC for July, followed by a statement from AU Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace and Security Bankole Adeoye.
Mamadou Tangara, the AU Commission’s Special Representative for Mali and the Sahel and head of the AU Mission in Mali and the Sahel (MISAHEL), is also expected to brief the Council.
The meeting follows the Council’s most recent formal discussion on Burkina Faso and Niger in September 2025, when it considered the broader situation in the Sahel. At that session, the PSC requested the AU Commission to establish a task force to support Sahel countries in addressing terrorism and its security, humanitarian and socio-economic impacts, while endorsing a proposal to convene a summit on the region.
The Council has since maintained engagement with the two countries through informal consultations, including a meeting in February 2026 with representatives of AU member states undergoing political transitions.
Mali does not feature on Monday’s agenda after the PSC held separate sessions on the country earlier this year, including a formal meeting in April following attacks on Malian security forces and an informal consultation in May with Malian Foreign Minister Abdoulaye Diop.
Burkina Faso and Niger continue to face attacks by armed groups linked to Islamist militants.
According to the Global Terrorism Index, terrorism-related attacks and deaths in Burkina Faso declined in 2025, although the country remained among those most affected by terrorism. The report said Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) accounted for more than 80% of recorded attacks during the year.
The AU briefing note said JNIM carried out coordinated attacks in early July targeting military positions in Burkina Faso’s Sourou province, resulting in casualties among security forces and members of the Volunteers for the Defence of the Homeland.
In Niger, data from the AU Counter Terrorism Centre showed attacks and fatalities during the second quarter of 2026 were nearly three times higher than in the corresponding period of 2025. The Centre attributed most incidents to the Islamic State Sahel Province (ISSP) and Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS), particularly in the Tillabéri, Tahoua and Dosso regions.
The AU Commission also cited attacks targeting Niamey’s international airport this year and referred to the July 17 ambush of Nigerien forces in the Tillabéri region, which Commission Chairperson Mahmoud Ali Youssouf said reflected a resurgence of terrorist attacks across the Sahel.
Monday’s meeting is expected to examine developments in the political transitions in Burkina Faso and Niger, alongside the evolving security situation in the two countries.
