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A four-day seminar to discuss the maritime security challenges affecting the Indian Ocean region, as well as security initiatives undertaken by coastal states to address these challenges.
China’s expanded police engagements in Africa could have potentially far-reaching consequences for African security governance.
Community-oriented policing (COP) has emerged as a key tool for ensuring national security in Africa. Community policing offers a “whole of society” approach and involves not just the security sector but civil society and other actors in crime prevention and the realization of effective policing.
Community-based security groups are emerging in African cities in response to rising crime and overstretched police forces. Experience from Abidjan shows that collaboration with the police, avoiding coercive tactics, and retaining citizen oversight councils are key to the effectiveness of these groups.
A virtual academic program cohosted with the African Centre for the Study and Research on Terrorism that focuses on effective community policing as a tool for countering violent extremism. This program provides an opportunity to capture and share insights, experiences, and lessons, among countries and across regions, about both the implementation challenges in community policing and the practical experiences in bridging gaps between the security sector and the communities they are entrusted with protecting and serving
South Sudan’s police force, the South Sudan National Police Service (SSNPS) faces numerous challenges as it seeks to provide internal security across the counties. The SSNPS’ size, force structure, command and control, and current deployment is difficult to ascertain since the ongoing conflict has led both to the integration of previous militia members and to widespread defections. Training for the SSNPS has been marred by abuse and sexual violence scandals. Finally, the force suffers from cronyism in promotions, reportedly widespread substance abuse, and a culture of impunity. A clearer delineation of the police and the army’s roles is required. Donor efforts to address similar problems in the Army have relegated the police to a secondary priority.
The increase in public attention of heroin trafficking into Africa has prompted an increased law enforcement response by East African states, particularly Kenya. However, there is a dearth of reliable, first-hand, and quantitative data on the heroin trade. Narcotics networks are highly flexible and evolve to evade law enforcement strategies. Understanding drug networks means that... Continue Reading
Africa's booming information and communications technology sector has the potential to fill the security vacuum created by crime and corruption.
Download this Security Brief as a PDF: English | Français | Português The increasingly internal nature of Africa’s security threats is placing ever greater pressures on Africa’s police forces. Yet severe resource and capacity limitations, combined with high levels of public distrust, leave most African police forces incapable of effectively addressing these expanding urban-based threats in... Continue Reading
Criminal gangs in Nigeria’s North West region have grown increasingly lethal, routinizing mass abductions, seizing farms in an important breadbasket, and causing massive internal displacement.
Coastal West African countries can strengthen resiliency to the threat of violent extremism by enhancing a multilayered response addressing local, national, and regional priorities.
Legislatures play an integral role in advancing national security by ensuring priorities align with citizen interests, budgets are allocated to meet priorities, and adequate oversight exists for the effective use of these resources.