The 7th edition of the Dakar Forum on Peace and Security in Africa opened this Monday, December 6. A meeting that brings together many political and institutional players from the humanitarian and research world. The presidents of Senegal, Macky Sall, of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa, of Niger, Mohamed Bazoum, and of Guinea-Bissau, Umaro Cissoco Embalo, are present. On the agenda: security and development issues, but also Covid-19.
With our special correspondent in Dakar, Pierre Firtion
” The urgency is there », Announced this Monday morning at the platform the Senegalese president. ” We have to face the harmful effects of a double health and economic crisis, Macky Sall said. A double crisis to which is added for Africa the particular vulnerability to climate change, the intensification of terrorist attacks and the resurgence of coups d’état. “
In terms of security, the situation on the continent is not very bright, to achieve better results in this area … Macky Sall pleaded for an increase in resources. ” Security has no price, but it comes at a cost “, He insisted, before adding:” In the face of the growing terrorist threat, we need more budgetary flexibility. “
The Senegalese president also called for questions about peacekeeping operations on the continent, operations which involve 75,000 soldiers, but whose results do not meet expectations.
The Covid-19 crisis also mentioned
The host of this forum concluded his remarks with a message of support for Cyril Ramaphosa: “ Isolating a country which has sequenced a new variant and which has been transparent is not only discriminatory, estimated Macky Sall, but also counterproductive because it is to encourage others not to publish the results. “
In response, the South African president denounced the lack of solidarity of the international community in this Covid-19 crisis, particularly regretting the restrictive measures taken by the countries of the North against his country. One of the workshops scheduled for Monday was to deal with the collective response to the pandemic.
Preparations for the Senegalese AU Presidency
Cybersecurity, the fight against disinformation, cooperation between States, the control of maritime areas as well as demography, will also be discussed during this forum. The Senegalese position on all these subjects will be all the more scrutinized as Dakar takes the rotating presidency of the African Union at the beginning of February.
In addition to public discussions, this meeting should also give rise to numerous bilateral meetings. And for good reason, a summit between the European Union and the African Union is to be held in Brussels in mid-February. This explains why Charles Michel, the President of the European Council, came to this forum.
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