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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.
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
African states’ maritime security structures are often misaligned with the challenges posed and need coast guard capabilities and an array of intra-governmental partnerships.
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.
This program provides a forum to share experiences, insights, practices, and lessons in national counterterrorism strategy development; to inform, foster, invigorate, and accelerate national counterterrorism strategies in Africa; and to support the creation and adoption of thoughtful, rigorous, and comprehensive national counterterrorism strategies that promote security for all Africans.
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.) Good Talk, Not Enough Action: The AU’s Counterterrorism Architecture, and Why It Matters By Simon Allison, Institute for Security Studies, March 31, 2015 Terrorist organizations do not abide by state boundaries; they use borders to escape or expand their reach. The African Union (AU) has thus taken... Continue Reading
Kenya’s effort to instill a culture of military professionalism is founded on respect for the constitution, cultivating service-oriented leadership, and a commitment to building a merit-based, well-educated, representative, and ethical force.
Senegal’s culture of military professionalism has been the outcome of a deliberate and long-term effort to inculcate values of service, meritocracy, and respect for democratic values.
An academic program for West African parliamentarians, their staff, and select defense and security officials to analyze current trends, challenges, and innovations in the work of legislatures to foster democratic and civilian control of the security sector.
China envisages professional military education in Africa as an opportunity to promote China’s governance model while deepening ties to Africa’s ruling political parties.