Sustaining Peace: What Does It Mean in Practice?
In its review of the peacebuilding architecture, the Advisory Group of Experts introduced the language of “sustaining peace” as a counterpoint to the term “peacebuilding.” Although conceived as a comprehensive process, peacebuilding has come to be narrowly interpreted as time-bound, exogenous interventions that take place “after the guns fall silent” in fragile or conflict- affected states.2 Sustaining peace seeks to reclaim peace in its own right and detach it from the subservient affiliation with conflict that has defined it over the past four decades.3
Under the theme « Combatting terrorism today: considerations, action and coordination » a symposium was held on 19 and 20 November 2018, in Abidjan. It was at the inaugural ceremony of the forthcoming opening of the International Anti-Terrorism Academy (AILCT), the result of privileged relationships between France and Côte d’Ivoire. AILCT hopes to be a place of sharing experiences and prospective to serve Africa, with the aim of developing the skills required by the recurrence and the propagation of the threats.
Promediation and the Centre 4S organised the fourth edition of the Maghreb-Sahel Seminar in Tunis on September 4th and 5th, 2018. This high-level seminar brings together government officials, representatives of international and regional organizations, local leaders, including among youth of the region, researchers, specialists and observers of the region in order to conduct a critical examination of the realities on the ground and national, regional and international responses to them, and contribute to the formulation of recommendations and concrete proposals.
The G 5 Sahel faces a series of challenges, all and each of them, of crucial priority. Mobilization of financial support, physical localization of its General Staff Headquarters, cooperation between its member states national armies, eradication of the very sources of terrorism as well as the battle to win public opinion, all appear on the dashboard of this regional security and development grouping.
For the last few years, the Sahel Sahara region has been deeply weakened by violent and multidimensional conflicts. These conflicts affect people, economies, institutions as well as the relationships with the region external partners. Their extension, towards both the Gulfs of Benin and of Guinea will not take long and one has to be blind to ignore it.