Wiki Countries Mali, Niger & Guinea

Mali, Niger & Guinea

Country profile: how Mali, Niger & Guinea fits the patterns described in the main guide, with every development linked to its source.

Last updated . Every factual claim links to its source.

This profile mirrors and is kept in sync with the Mali, Niger & Guinea entry in the main guide's case studies.

Overview

Military juntas converted 2020–2023 coups into open-ended rule, granting themselves renewable mandates and, in Guinea's case, a managed election in December 2025; weeks before that vote, the junta dissolved 40 political parties, including every major opposition party, stripping them of legal status rather than merely barring individual candidates.

Democracy indicators

Liberal Democracy Index, 1990–2025

V-Dem's Liberal Democracy Index, 1990–2025 (scale 0–1), for Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Guinea. Source: V-Dem via Our World in Data, retrieved November 7, 2026. Compare with other countries in the comparison tool.

Show the data
Country199020152025Regime type, 2025
Mali0.140.350.15Closed autocracy
Burkina Faso0.100.310.10Closed autocracy
Niger0.220.490.18Closed autocracy
Guinea0.050.160.10Closed autocracy

Timeline

Key dated developments, each linked to the reporting that confirms it. Wording is kept neutral; where a government disputes a characterization, its stated position is included. See also the master timeline across all countries.

  1. Mali: Soldiers detained President Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta, who resigned. The coup leaders promised elections within a 'reasonable time'. Source: Al Jazeera

  2. Mali: Soldiers arrested the transitional president and prime minister in the country's second coup in nine months. Source: Voice of America

  3. Burkina Faso: Capt. Ibrahim Traoré ousted Lt. Col. Paul-Henri Damiba, who had himself deposed the elected president in January 2022. Source: Al Jazeera

  4. Niger: The presidential guard detained President Mohamed Bazoum and its commander, Gen. Abdourahamane Tchiani, took power. Source: Al Jazeera

  5. Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger signed a mutual-defence pact creating the Alliance of Sahel States. Source: Africanews

  6. Burkina Faso: A new charter extended military rule by five years and allowed Traoré to run in eventual elections. The junta cited the security crisis. Source: Africanews

  7. ECOWAS said the three states' withdrawal from the regional bloc had formally taken effect. Source: Reuters via Arab News Pakistan

  8. Niger: Tchiani was sworn in for a five-year transition under a charter that replaced the constitution. Source: Africanews

  9. Mali: After all political parties were dissolved in May, the transitional parliament granted Assimi Goïta a five-year mandate renewable 'until the pacification of the country' without elections. Source: Al Jazeera

  10. Burkina Faso: The junta dissolved all political parties, saying their proliferation had 'fuelled divisions among citizens'. Source: DW via AllAfrica

Analytical lens

Concepts on this wiki that help explain this case: Democratic Backsliding and Executive Aggrandizement, Regime Types: How Democracy Is Measured.

See also