{"id":39126,"date":"2026-07-09T07:13:27","date_gmt":"2026-07-09T05:13:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/?post_type=news&#038;p=39126"},"modified":"2026-07-09T07:13:27","modified_gmt":"2026-07-09T05:13:27","slug":"sahel-alliance-uses-russia-meeting-to-defy-au-pressure-expert","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/sahel-alliance-uses-russia-meeting-to-defy-au-pressure-expert\/","title":{"rendered":"Sahel Alliance uses Russia meeting to defy AU pressure: Expert"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov\u2019s high-level meetings with the Alliance of Sahel States reflect a strategic effort by the region&#8217;s military governments to secure alternative global backing amid ongoing friction with the African Union (AU), according to international relations specialist Professor Jos\u00e9 Francisco Pavia.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The talks in Niger, which follow Lavrov&#8217;s diplomatic stop in Ethiopia, bring together the Foreign Ministers of Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger. The gathering takes place at a critical geopolitical juncture, as all three military-led nations remain suspended from the AU following recent coups and have formally withdrawn from the West African regional bloc, Economic Community of West African States.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Pavia points out that the timing and nature of the meeting underscore a structural shift in regional diplomacy. By deepening defense and energy co-operation with Moscow, the Sahel coalition is effectively building a parallel security network that allows them to bypass traditional continental oversight and resist external political pressure to return to civilian rule.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&#8211;ChannelAfrica&#8211;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":29469,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[78,26],"class_list":["post-39126","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-featured","news-type-general_news","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"Sahel Alliance's Russia talks signal growing rift with African Union","published_date":"2026-07-09 07:13:21","news_description":"Sahel Alliance's Russia talks signal growing rift with African Union","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/39126","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/39126\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39127,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/39126\/revisions\/39127"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29469"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39126"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=39126"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}