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Estimates are that more than half of all Africans will live in cities by 2025. This rapid pace of urbanization is creating a new locus of fragility in many African states—as evidenced by the burgeoning slums around many of the continent’s urban areas—and the accompanying rise in violence, organized crime, and the potential for instability. These evolving threats, in turn, have profound implications for Africa’s security sector.
Counterterrorism efforts among Sahelian governments remain uncoordinated and too narrowly focused to contain and confront AQIM’s long-term and sophisticated strategy in the region. To prevent AQIM from further consolidating its presence in the Sahel, regional policies must be harmonized and security forces refocused so as to minimize collateral impacts on local communities.
A growing number of Africa’s security challenges—narcotics trafficking, piracy, illegal fishing, and armed robberies, among others—take place at sea. Illicit actors exploit Africa’s maritime space given its expansiveness and the limited number of vessels African governments can field to interdict this activity. Technology can dramatically improve Africa’s maritime security coverage. However, to do so will require engaging Africa’s scientists who can guide and sustain these efforts. This will yield not only security but environmental and meteorological benefits for the continent.
Download this Security Brief as a PDF: English | Français | Português Africa is facing an increasingly menacing threat of cocaine trafficking that risks undermining its security structures, nascent democratic institutions, and development progress. Latin America has long faced similar challenges and its experience provides important lessons that can be applied before this expanding threat... Continue Reading
This program explores the TOC-security-governance nexus to generate strategic recommendations that can be practically implemented by participants and their peers within African institutions.
(See more recent readings on this topic here.) Securing Legitimate Stability in the DRC: External Assumptions and Local Perspectives By Jaïr van der Lijn, Tim Glawion, and Nikki de Zwaan, Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, September 30, 2019 Surveys and interviews conducted in South Kivu examine the roles of the Armed Forces of the DRC... Continue Reading
(See more recent readings on this topic here.) Corruption and State-Corporate Crime in Fisheries By Andre Standing, Chr. Michelson Institute, July 31, 2015 In the early 2000s in Senegal, 75 percent of animal protein consumed comes from marine fisheries. Yet Russian, European, and Asian firms are increasingly overfishing in the country’s territory and threatening the... Continue Reading
(See more recent readings on this topic here.) The Problem with Militias in Somalia: Almost Everyone Wants Them Despite Their Dangers By Vanda Felbab-Brown, UN Centre for Policy Research, April 14, 2020 Militias can present an attractive alternative to state forces but they carry many risks. Somalia, which hosts many militias, reveals why states and... Continue Reading
(See more recent readings on this topic here.) The Problem with Militias in Somalia: Almost Everyone Wants Them Despite Their Dangers By Vanda Felbab-Brown, UN Centre for Policy Research, April 14, 2020 Militias can present an attractive alternative to state forces but they carry many risks. Somalia, which hosts many militias, reveals why states and... Continue Reading
(See more recent readings on this topic here.) Report of the Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan By United Nations Commission on Human Rights, March 6, 2017 Despite having committed to a peace agreement, South Sudan’s warring actors have shown no sign of following through with any of the requirements therein. In fact, the... Continue Reading
(See more recent readings on this topic here.) Analysing Drug Trafficking in East Africa: A Media-monitoring Approach By Ciara Aucoin, ENACT, June 30, 2018 Heroin, cocaine, and cannabis are involved in the majority of drug-trafficking cases reported on in Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda. As they are also often intercepted at ports of entry, heroin and... Continue Reading
(See more recent readings on this topic here.) Ending ‘Forever War’ in Somalia: Negotiating with Al-Shabaab By Mohamed Husein Gaas and Stig Jarle Hansen, 2022 Sixteen years of a militarized approach toward al Shabaab has resulted in a stalemate. Negotiation between the two sides has yet to be explored in earnest. There are several barriers... Continue Reading