By Tirthankar ChandaPosted on 16-11-2019Modified on 16-11-2019 at 17:15
The current challenges of multilateralism are the theme of the 2019 edition of the Dakar International Forum to be held on November 18 and 19 in the Senegalese capital. Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Ghazouani is the guest of honor at the Forum this year. French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe is also expected for this event.
From our special envoy,
Dakar will be the high place of peace and security in Africa, on 18 and 19 November. Gathered in the Senegalese capital, all that the continent has experts and experts on security issues will debate for two days strategies implemented by African states to deal with terrorist attacks. These have intensified in recent years, especially in the Sahelian countries .
It is in this context of new outbreak and hybridization of terrorist violence that opens the new edition of the Dakar Forum. " Given the deteriorating security environment in the Sahel, it should come as no surprise that this region is at the heart of the debate this year, as will the questions that everyone mechanisms put in place to deal with violence, "says Hugo Sada, a former journalist and Africa advisor to the European Strategic Intelligence Company (CEIS), which is the logistics operator of the Dakar International Forum.
Dakar, capital of African strategic thinking
This forum, organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Senegal, is a Franco-Senegalese initiative whose idea was born at the Elysee Summit in 2013, in the wake of Operation Serval , a French military intervention in Mali that took place in January of the same year. " The goal of the initiators was to set up a regular meeting, with the theme of defense and security in Africa, like the Shangri-La Dialogue in Asia or the Abu Dhabi meeting for the countries. Muslims, "recalls Hugo Sada.
" At the Elysee, Macky Sall took up the challenge, anxious to create a forum in Dakar to deepen the analysis and reflection on the strategic evolution of the continent, new threats, major security issues and the new prospects for international cooperation, especially in the face of violent terrorism and extremism, transnational crime and maritime insecurity, "added Amadou Ba, the Senegalese Minister for Foreign Affairs.
The first edition of this African Strategic Forum was held in December 2014, in Dakar. It is in its sixth edition. From year to year, this meeting has seen its participation amplify, imposing Dakar as the capital of African strategic thinking. For the founder of the Senegalese think-tank Wathi , who has participated in this forum since its inception, " the main merit of the organizers is to have been able to evolve this meeting, dominated in its early years by military, especially French, towards pluralism quite significant, with the growing presence of the civil society and the specialists who present a diversity of points of view on security topics ".
The crisis of multilateralism
After the " stakes of stability and sustainable development " which were at the heart of the debates at the previous edition of the forum, the specialists invited to speak this year will discuss the " current challenges of multilateralism ". The discussions will be divided into three plenary sessions and nine workshops. Work in the workshops will focus on sub-themes as diverse as conflict prevention mechanisms, the role of the population and civil society in security, violent extremism, digital security and the role of business. in peace processes.
" If multilateralism has become the common theme of this 2019 edition ," explains Hugo Sada, " it is because its weakening and the threats it poses to peacekeeping operations, particularly in Africa, is major issue today. Africa is the main victim of this weakening, as evidenced by the strong pressure exerted at the United Nations to reduce, if not outright cut funding for the peace operations of the African Union or ECOWAS . " International cooperation has been replaced in Africa by the return of the power policies witnessed by the growing presence in the Sahel and East Africa of foreign military presences, most of which are not supervised by the Security Council. Adds the specialist.
" Multilateralism is a major theme ," says Gilles Yabi. It is important insofar as, in Africa, in general, we are in a situation of great dependence on the West. The continent hosts some of the longest peacekeeping missions and international military interventions, under the UN and individual countries. In West Africa, states are very dependent on their relations with France, the European Union and the United States. In this context, the relevance of the topic of multilateralism can not be discussed, but the whole question is to know what this means concretely for the region, for the most important centers of tension. How can there be, within this all-out dependence, an area of autonomy, reflection and choice of approach for the African countries directly concerned? "
Diplomatic and security issues
Despite the Dakar Organizers' focus on multilateralism in crisis, participants will find it hard to ignore the all-security paradigm set in the Sahel, which is proving to be insufficient to curb terrorist and ethnic violence. who regularly smells the region. Especially since, as we can read in the concept note of the Dakar Forum 2019, " the African security environment is becoming more and more complex (...) Security threats and challenges, such as violent extremism, are evolving and evolving. combine with the illicit trafficking of drugs, weapons, human beings, cybercrime and rivalries for the control of resources. In addition, there is a resurgence of intercommunal conflicts in several regions of the continent. "
According to many experts, the recent terrorist attacks that are particularly deadly against the populations in Mali and Burkina Faso require a review of the existing military devices. The Dakar Forum proposes to discuss this issue, starting with the first plenary session, which is specifically devoted to the theme: " Rethinking security : what approaches ? " You have to change paradigm, " say some.
The diplomatic paradigm is already changing, as evidenced by the presence announced at the opening ceremony of the new Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Ghazouani , alongside the Senegalese head of state Macky Sall who will open the forum. The presence of the Mauritanian president in Dakar is perhaps not meaningless, when we know the bickering that has poisoned the relations between Senegal and Mauritania under the presidency of the predecessor of Mohamed Ghazouani. Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz was particularly opposed to the entry of Senegal into the G5-Sahel , currently composed of Mauritania, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger and Chad. Dakar has never made a mystery of its disappointment at having been excluded. " We are part of the G5-Sahel without being there ", regretted recently a senior Senegalese military and close to power.
The cast of the inauguration ceremony also includes the presence of French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe and that of its Minister of Defense, Florence Parly, who is a regular at the Forum. Will Dakar have the primacy of the decisions that the French government, according to the recent declaration of President Emmanuel Macron, is preparing to take to " confirm and reinforce France's commitment in the region?"
■ Three questions to General Amadou Anta Guèye, Director General of CHEDS
General Amadou Anta Guèye heads the Center for Advanced Studies and Defense and Security (CHEDS), which heads the Scientific Commission of the Dakar International Forum.
RFI : As head of the Forum's scientific commission, the CHEDS conceives and organizes the thematic and intellectual orientations of the meeting. How do you work ?
Amadou Anta Guèye : CHEDS is in charge of the intellectual conception of the forum. The scientific commission formed for this purpose and composed of academics, senior officials, high-level diplomats and military experts, together with a council of wise men, is reflecting on the security problems facing the African continent. The work starts at the beginning of the year and builds on the conclusions of the experts gathered during the previous edition of the forum, to define the general thematic orientation of the forum in preparation. The chosen theme is then submitted for validation to our supervisory authority, namely the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, then to the Head of State. The next step is to formulate the sub-themes and write the concept note, which is established in collusion with the European Scientific Intelligence Company (CEIS), our French partner. We are also working together on scoping notes for topics to be discussed in the workshops. After a final validation by the highest authority of the themes and orientations, the CEIS takes again the hand for the logistic follow-up.
How has multilateralism emerged as the central theme of the sixth edition that opens next Monday ?
I will not reveal to you any secret by assuring you that the African States depend greatly on the Westerners to preserve peace at home. This dependence is not only financial. We also need equipment and know-how, particularly in the fight against cybercrime, which is gaining ground on the African continent. Monitoring our borders with electronic means is also an area where we need Western support. Hence the importance of a multilateral approach of working collectively. More and more, our partners prefer to use bilateralism as multilateralism. We are worried about this development because multilateralism brought together the whole international community around the problems of the continent and resolved them effectively, while bilateralism leads to the juxtaposition of forces and means. It is to be hoped that the specialists who will discuss this topic at the forum will be able to enlighten and guide us.
The Dakar forum is perceived as a West African meeting, limited to the French-speaking family ...
We have taken these criticisms into account and the effort has been made this year to really diversify the expertise. Seventy specialists from all fields related to security and development were invited to take part in the debates. 70% of these experts are of African origin. They are Arabic-speaking, English-speaking, Portuguese-speaking, from Nigeria, South Africa, Ethiopia. What we really want is for these experts to have the time to discuss in depth and propose solutions that States can apply to combat the violence that prevents Africa from moving forward.
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