Tag Archives: peace

PAN-AFRICAN DISCUSSIONS ON PEACE & SECURITY: THE SAHEL (The African Youth Security Network)

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Tue, August 17, 2021

7:00 PM – 8:00 PM BST

Link to register

The African Youth Security Network is having another discussion and this time on the Sahel region and its conflicts. Speakers include:

Murtala Abdullahi is a Nigerian reporter and researcher with HumAngle Media. He writes on climate and human security in Nigeria and Lake Chad. He is also the founder of Goro Initiative, a non-profit for promoting understanding of climate, peace, and security in Nigeria.

Sabrina holda Adongo is a Ugandan and a Masters’s student at Masaryk University studying Conflict and Democracy studies. She also holds a degree in International Relations. Her main areas of focus include the conflict in Central Africa, the Sahel region, refugee welfare, conflict resolution, and humanitarianism.

Thierry K’pele is a Togolese national and an Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) expert. He is also an armed conflict analyst, a trainer of the International Small Arms Control Standards (ISACS), and the chairperson of the OJAP Commission.

 

France in the Sahel: a case of the reluctant multilateralist?

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France is presenting its current involvement in the Sahel as a new, and more multilateral, form of intervention.

But is it? Does it mark a clean break with France’s early postcolonial past, characterised by unilateral intervention practices? Or does it, thanks to a process called ‘layering’, superimpose and meld together old unilateral intervention practices with the ‘newer’ multilateral approach?

In looking for answers to these questions, we are reminded of the quotation by management consultant Peter Drucker, namely that

If you want to do something new, you have to stop doing something old.

This observation seems to be the key to understanding the novelty or otherwise of France’s actions in the Sahel. Thus, before searching for the ‘new’, we need to look back and identify the ‘old’.

Read more on The Conversation

Authors:

Tony Chafer: Professor of African and French Studies, University of Portsmouth

Gordon D. Cumming: Professor of Foreign and Development Policies, Cardiff University