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Combating irregular forces has become a common feature of the contemporary African security landscape. However, the security sector in most African countries is ill-prepared to conduct effective counter-insurgency operations. Realigning force structures to address these threats while building security sector professionalism to gain the trust of local populations is needed to do so.
While not often considered a hub in global terrorist networks, South Africa has seen a steady and growing pattern of domestic and al-Qaeda–linked terrorist activity over the past decade. Coinciding with the creeping expansion of terrorist threats in other parts of the continent, this Security Brief examines lessons learned from South Africa’s experience and their potential relevance to other African countries and their security sectors.
Download this Security Brief as a PDF: English | Français | Português As many African countries continue down the path of democratic reform, Africa’s defense and security forces must make fundamental changes to adapt to a democratic model of governance. In this paper, General Dominique Djindjéré puts forward five priority reforms Africa’s defense and security... Continue Reading
Identifying lessons learned from African operations, Paul Williams offers priorities for improving civilian protection in peace operations.
Download this Security Brief as a PDF: English | Français | Português Persistent reports of extremist activity from across Africa have deepened concern over the spread of radicalism on the continent. Extremists capitalize on political and security vacuums within Africa’s fragile states to grow their support base and consolidate their strength. Stable states that provide... Continue Reading
Download PDF: English | Français | Português Peace operations have been a principal tool used to curb conflict in Africa over the past decade, with over 40 operations deployed since 2000. This Security Brief takes stock of lessons learned from these experiences and the implications they hold for improving the effectiveness of future peace operations... Continue Reading
A significant development in Africa over the past decade has been the generalized lessening of violent conflict. Revitalized, expanded international peacekeeping, bolstered by a newly launched African Union determination to tackle security challenges, has reinforced this trend. But, much more cohesive interagency coordination under strong White House direction is required if the United States is to contribute to Africa’s sustained stability given the region’s persistent conditions of poverty, inequality, and weak governance.
Attaining and sustaining peace across Africa is critically dependent on the ability of Africa’s security sector to respond in a timely manner, get troops and supplies to areas of greatest need, establish reliable communications infrastructure, relocate vulnerable and affected groups, and sustain efforts aimed at ensuring stability and democratic values. This is the realm of... Continue Reading
The U.S. government has supported a number of productive lines of effort over the past few years strengthening individual functional areas within the African partners’ maritime sectors. A next critical step is to bring those various threads together to help reinforce an integrated and holistic African response spanning from the maritime incident at sea to... Continue Reading
This program examines best practices for countering violent extremism leading to the production of a handbook for African security practitioners, derived from insights and recommendations generated from the Africa Center CVE series and from other sources.
African states receive a variety of security assistance from a wide range of donor nations and external partners. This program assists African states in developing a strategy to prioritize, leverage, and manage the range of security assistance offers from external partners.
(See more recent readings on this topic here.) Army of Fake Fans Boosts China’s Messaging on Twitter By Erika Kinetz, Associated Press, May 12, 2021 Chinese officials around the world use Twitter and Facebook, which are blocked in China, to post about their country’s initiatives and defend it against controversy. But the seeming popularity of... Continue Reading