Presentation from Session 20 of our Emerging Security Sector Leaders Seminar
Many African states provide security to their citizens through a reliance not only on their own resources but also through external partnerships. A defining feature of Africa’s contemporary security environment is the increasing great powers competition, with renewed interest and increased presence of traditional security partners (the U.S., European Union, and China) and emerging partners (India, Russia, Brazil, Vietnam, South Korea, the Gulf States, and Turkey). To varying degrees, all of these African security partners have taken an increased interest in Africa as a destination for business and a place to procure vital natural resources. These countries are also cultivating ties with African countries to enhance their diplomatic standing and influence in multilateral institutions such as the United Nations, the African Union, and the Regional Economic Communities (RECs).
While external security assistance can help African nations, such assistance risks undermining the very security the state is meant to strengthen if partnerships are not guided and informed by national security priorities and objectives. One the one hand, African leaders must clearly understand their security threats and identify capacity gaps and response needs in order to shape discussions with external partners about security assistance; external partners, on the other hand, need to understand that the effectiveness of their security assistance rests with clearly articulated national security priorities and agenda. Having a National Security Strategy will help better manage, align, coordinate, and utilize security assistance for improved delivery of security and safety on the continent.
External security assistance should therefore be based upon genuine and enduring partnership (rather than patronage), mutual interests, the African Union’s principles of sovereign equality and inter-dependence, the traditional African value of equal burden-sharing and mutual assistance, and the indivisibility of African security.
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