Burkina Faso/Second Strategic Studies Forum: African countries’ foreign policies at the centre of discussion

This edition, which has the strong support of the President of Faso, Head of State, Captain Ibrahim Traoré, and the President of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Regional Cooperation and Burkina Faso Abroad, Jean-Marie Karamoko Traoré, also brings together the skills and knowledge of experts from several countries.

“The changes made by the Heads of State of Burkina Faso, Niger and Mali are the result of the continued terrorist attacks in the Sahel-Sahara zone, the withdrawal of foreign troops from the three countries and the denunciations of the military. The cooperation agreements reached with certain partners, the creation of the Alliance for the Sahel and the decision of the three countries to withdraw from ECOWAS constitute major facts that eloquently illustrate the changes in the geopolitical and geostrategic context of West Africa. The opening ceremony of the Forum was presided over by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Stella Eldine Kabré, Minister Delegate for Regional Cooperation.

The forum is part of the development of the “Synergies and Capitalization of Research” program of the Burkina Faso National Center for Strategic Studies (CNES-BF). “It is important to remember that this program is at the heart of its (CNES-BF) mission, as it aims to bring together and promote reflection on the most cutting-edge themes in strategic research, related to sovereignty, national and regional strategic balances, human security, national security of nations, international peace and security,” said General Barthélémy Simporé, Director General of CNES-BF, at the opening ceremony.

The former Minister of Defence explained that the institutionalisation of the Strategic Studies Forum is a true manifestation of this ambition, as it aims to provide a space for researchers, experts, practitioners and national and African professionals to meet on strategic issues, discuss contextual themes relevant to current challenges and make recommendations to political decision-makers.

The General also explained that, based on the conclusions of the first panel, the Scientific Committee of the Forum considered it necessary to keep the theme of this Forum, “African foreign policies in a geopolitical restructuring”. For Barthélémy Simporé, this reflection theme, with its high thematic density and hot news, allows us to extend last year’s reflection on the geopolitical upheavals that the world is currently experiencing.

“The news of recent years has shown us that, in the Sahel, terrorism has profoundly disturbed the strategic situation in Africa, changing the sociological and internal political game of states, which I would correctly describe as geopolitical goals that are not clearly identified, while echoing the geostrategic competition of the world’s major powers. Similarly, almost everywhere on the international stage, we have witnessed the increase in diplomatic tensions, the emergence of alternative power groups, widespread rearmament, the reorganization of the international order, and above all the return of nationalism and war and the increasingly complex challenges that come with it! The rebound of nationalism and high-intensity wars is both worrying and alarming, because international peace and security have rarely reached such a sensitive level on the brink of the great tragedies that tore humanity apart in the last century. But if it is true that war has not changed its face, it is noteworthy that it has incorporated new destabilizing hybrid national and transnational actors. This is the so-called fourth generation of warfare, which has extended the dimension of conflict to a more complex immaterial sphere, that of communications and cyberspace, which is difficult to grasp! The context of upheavals in international relations highlights the depth and relevance of the theme of this Forum and certainly justifies the interest of the distinguished audience present, composed of well-known figures in the research and diplomatic community.” CNES-BF said Barthélémy Simporé, the first manager of the

Focus on the theme of this 48-hour reflection

The Forum is held in conjunction with the Strategic Research Awards, which aims to reward the best scientific results on strategic topics in the senior and junior categories every year. The winners will be announced at the end of the Forum tomorrow (Friday, June 28, 2024).

Meanwhile, experts from several countries in Africa and other regions will communicate during these 48 hours. Thus, in addition to the first communication delivered at the opening by Professor Yves Mandjem, a Cameroonian, on the aforementioned central theme, the second forum will see, in the first panel (which deals with regional security), exchanges on “Internal security and foreign policy in Burkina Faso: dynamics and dialectics of two public action sectors under hybrid security challenges” (with slightly modified themes) and “Security issues in Central Africa: dynamics of a collective approach”, respectively handled by Moussa Thiombiano of the National Police (Burkina) and Anne Ines Alem M’Fula of the University of Yaoundé II (Cameroon).

The second panel focused on foreign policy making, organized around “Quasi-diplomacy and the new security agenda in Africa: Issues, actors and practices of cross-border cooperation” and “Burkina’s foreign policy in the face of a security crisis: the relationship between paradigm shifts and reorientation of external cooperation”, presented by Dr. Aimé Raoul Sumo Tayo from the University of Liège (Belgium) and Dr. Firmin Nana from the National Centre for Scientific and Technological Research (Burkina Faso).

The third panel focused on the adaptation strategies of African states and societies, divided into the following contributions: “Climate crisis and population displacement in Sub-Saharan Africa: the relationship between national policy absence and international action”, “Foreign legal policies of African states” and “Transnational lynching: transnational collaboration between vigilance committees to fight Boko Haram (Cameroon-Nigeria)”, analysed respectively by Dr. N’Dèye Astou N’Diaye of Cheick Anta Diop University, Senegal, and Professor Médard Kiénou of the Nazim Boni University (Burkina Faso) and Yvan Hyannick Obah of the Catholic College of Yaoundé (Cameroon).

The fourth panel focused on African regional organizations, with two communications by Nelson David Compaoré from CNES-BF on “The G5 Sahel faces a test of regional geopolitical changes: the tail end of the legitimacy crisis” and Dr. Abdoul Sogodogo from the Centre des Sciences d’Administration et d’Politique in Bamako (Mali) on “The Alliance of Sahel States: between federalism and confederation, questions of survival and development”.

The fifth cluster deals with the strategies of non-African countries towards Africa and the Sahel, divided into “The dynamics of the repositioning of foreign powers in Africa and the prospects for the redeployment of African countries in the context of globalization: a social analysis of the French, Russian and Chinese cases”, which will be studied by Christophe Essomba of the University of Yaoundé II (Cameroon), while “Strategies of non-African countries towards Africa and the Sahel” will be studied by Franck Ebogo of the Center for Political and Strategic Studies (Cameroon).

This issue also includes a “High-Level Panel”, which aims to be a “great witness to diplomacy”, with speakers Mamane Sambo Sidikou (Niger, former Permanent Secretary-General of the G5 Sahel); Mélégué Maurice Traoré (Burkina Faso, former ambassador, former minister, former President of the National Assembly) and Hawa Aw (Mali, Executive Secretary of the Integrated Development Agency of the Liptako-Gourma State).

All these exchanges were moderated by experts, namely Professor Augustin Roda, constitutionalist (Burkina Faso), Camissa Camara (Mali, former Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation), Paul Robert Tiendrebéogo (Burkina Faso, former Minister of African and Burkinabe Integration), Dr. Zakaria Soré (Burkina Faso, sociologist, Secretary General of the President of Faso), Professor Valérie Soma (Burkina Faso, President of the Executive Council of the Burkina Faso Society of International Law), Professor Vincent Zakané (Burkina Faso, teacher and researcher in public law) and Dr. Sampala Balima (Deputy Director-General of CNES-BF, Burkina Faso).

Omar L. Ouedraogo

Lefaso.com