2023-05-09 06:32:36
AA / Abidjan / Fulbert Yao
The 11th African Land Forces Summit opened on Monday in Abidjan, under the theme: “Addressing security challenges through civil-military partnerships”.
Thirty-six African countries out of the fifty-four on the continent are taking part in this summit, in addition to the United States and some European nations.
The objective of this meeting is multiple. It is regarding discussing security challenges in Africa, developing complementary and collaborative solutions to shared security challenges from the different networks of partners and talking regarding terrorism among other scourges.
“We see this summit as a forum for frank exchanges, allowing stakeholders to develop strategies to improve the security and stability of African countries plagued by insecurity,” said the Ivorian Minister of Defence, Tene Birahima Ouattara.
For Minister Ouattara, the theme of the meeting shows the need for States to readjust their strategies by adopting a global and multilateral approach to the fight taking into account all the actors, in particular the populations and organizations of civil society.
“This summit is an opportunity for the high hierarchy of African land forces to think up pragmatic and realistic strategies in the face of national and international security challenges. “, he underlined.
With regard to Côte d’Ivoire, the minister recalled that the country is engaged in the reform of its defense tool in order to respond effectively to terrorist threats, particularly in the north. This resulted, among other things, in the creation of a North Operational Zone with more than 2,500 soldiers permanently deployed and in the implementation of a program for the development of basic infrastructure, income-generating activities for the benefit populations.
Asked regarding Russian policy in West Africa, the minister wanted to be precise. For him “Russia is a country like any country in the world which is free to have relations with all the countries in the world. Which seems totally normal. But, now it all depends on the scope of relations with the country. We have no particular concern regarding raising the issue during this summit because this summit is made to address all subjects,” he said.
The Army General, Commander of the American Forces for Europe and Africa, Williams Darryl, for his part, indicated that these meetings aim to identify “solutions that will come from the Africans” in order to deal with the security challenges on the continent. He assured that the United States is committed to supporting African countries to overcome security threats.
More than 300 army chiefs, experts and participants take part in this summit. On the menu, conferences delivered by Ivorian and international specialists which will be followed by discussions, working committee sessions as well as a visit to the International Academy for the Fight once morest Terrorism in Jacqueville on Tuesday 9 May.
The 10th edition was held at Fort Benning in the USA in March 2022.
Only part of the dispatches, which Anadolu Agency broadcasts to its subscribers via the Internal Broadcasting System (HAS), is broadcast on the AA website, in a summarized manner. Please contact us to subscribe.
1683618530
#African #land #forces #readapt #strategies
