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China’s expanding involvement in Africa is an integral piece in President Xi Jinping’s grand strategy to restore the country to its perceived rightful place of global prominence.
While discussions of security cooperation often focus assistance from wealthy countries, intra-African assistance has become a major focus of multilateral efforts in crisis management and stabilization.
This report considers reforms needed to improve ECOWAS’s collective action in the face of formidable challenges to peace and security in West Africa.
Africa's fast changing conflict environments compel new thinking on effective strategies for building peace. African leaders and institutions have stepped into this political and operational space to produce the contours of a unique model of African peace operations, suited to the challenges and constraints facing the continent today. The Africa Center held a public roundtable to discuss the implications of Africa's new conflict environment on peacebuilding, the African Standby Forces, and the international community.
“Compatriots, fellow country men and women, Congratulations. With this agreement we have ended the longest war in Africa, 50 years of war out of 55 years of independence. Today, we bring this half a century of war to a dignified end.” The date is January 9, 2005, and the place is Nyayo Stadium in Nairobi,... Continue Reading
Nearly half of all uniformed peacekeepers are African and countries like Ghana, Rwanda, Senegal, and South Africa have provided troops to UN and AU missions almost continuously over the past decade. Despite such vast experience, African peacekeepers are often reliant on international partners for training before they can deploy on these missions. Institutionalizing a capacity-building model within African defense forces is a more sustainable approach that maintains a higher level of readiness to respond to emerging crises and contingencies on the continent.
The Center held symposia in Zambia on AU architecture and insecurity in SADC, national security and security sector reform, and collaboration between the military and police.
Advice for U.S. government personnel assigned to duties relating to Africa: The sheer diversity of the continent, approximately three times larger than the United States in both land mass and population, makes it impossible to apply a fixed set of indicators to explain its social, economic, political and security dynamics and challenges. Furthermore, if the... Continue Reading
The achievements and shortcomings of peacekeeping operations offer vital lessons for optimizing this increasingly central but still evolving tool.
Airlift assets provide vital capabilities and multiply the effectiveness of Africa’s resource-limited militaries and collective peace operations.
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.