African Security in the Kingdom of Morocco

A Peace and Security Symposium in Morocco: An Interesting Development
A meeting on African security: Challenges and Prospects was held in Marakech,Morocco between the 28th and 30th of January 2010.The meeting brought experts on African peace and security issues including  civilian and military officials from African,American,European and Asian countries. Medhane Tadesse attended the meeting organized by the Moroccan Center for Strategic Studies and its new outfit the African Federation of Strategic Studies. Although there were senior representatives from all major global players, the representation from the US government, particularly AFRICOM was clearly visible. Besides, for obvious reasons delegates from Francophone Africa were in a majority. Probably due to the number of participants, discussions tend to be general and less substantive in terms of tackling the current peace and security issues in the African continent. However, there were some relevant discussions on some agenda items such as ‘Terrorism in the Sahel and the Control of Deserts’. However, organizing such a meeting in North Africa is a welcome development, for two reasons. First, North Africa has lagged behind in terms of open discussion in the security-development-governance discourse. This may well have been because of the traditional security concerns, and concomitant lack of transparency, in that part of the continent.  The currentanlayst believes that the Maghreb is lagging behind in terms of good governance, and the spread of democratic norms, values and principles and this is not good in terms of solidifying and sustaining democratic reforms all over Africa.

The problem in North Africa is reflected both in terms of processes, institutions and norms. This would be consistent with its limited movement toward political liberalization.  In the Maghreb it is not only the norms and principles but also the process of building a regional architecture for peace and security is far behind than other African sub-regions. Secondly, and not unrelated to the above is the fact the meeting was held in the Kingdom of Morocco, a country which is not a member of the AU as well. Moves of this nature need to be encouraged as it could help Morocco to pursue democratization and initiate a process of reengagement with Africa. Clearly, the African Union was absent from the discussions, however, the issues raised and discussed in the Marrakech meeting are more or less the same issues being dealt with other Africans, by African leaders and the African Union Commission. Organizing similar conferences could help broaden the limited availability of entry points for reform and lead to the emergence of a vibrant the civil society, a necessary precondition for democratization. Within this broader context, a major issue for the currentanlayst.com is however is the impact this could have on the pursuit of Security Sector Reform/SSR/ in the Maghreb.

For more reflections click on the Security Governance in North Africa.pdf