A zone of fragility has emerged at the Europe’s Southern doorstep that stretches from the Sahel to North Africa and the Mediterranean Sea. Security challenges there are increasingly trans-regional. Many of these are particularly pronounced in border areas, which have emerged as corridors of militancy, organized crime and economic marginalization.
This seminar addresses the main drivers and manifestations of fragility across the Maghreb and Sahel including key security threats, governance failures, ethnic issues and resource scarcity. It also aims to explore concrete options for regional and international actors to work together to tackle these challenges and improve human security across this vast region.
The seminar is organised by FRIDE and NUPI with the kind support of Hivos and the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Programme 09.00 - 16.00:
9:00 - 9:30 - Opening remarks
Ulf Sverdrup, Director of NUPI
Giovanni Grevi, Director of FRIDE
Ben Witjes, Director of Programme and Projects, Hivos
Knut Langeland, Special Envoy for the Sahel and Maghreb, Norwegian MFA
9:30 - 11:00 - Session 1
Trans-regional security challenges
Speakers to assess radicalization, terrorism/militancy, ethnic tensions, illicit trafficking and other trans-national criminal activities, and what is currently being done to address these challenges.
Chair: Morten Bøås, Research Professor, NUPI
Speakers:
- Anouar Boukhars, Associate Researcher at FRIDE and Non-Resident Scholar at Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
- Georg Klute, Professor of Anthropology of Africa, Bayreuth University
- Francesco Strazzari, Senior Research Fellow at NUPI and Associate Professor of International Relations at the Pisa-based Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies
- Mary Fitzgerald, Independent analyst
11:00 – 11:30 - Coffee break
11:30 – 13:00 - Session 2
Unsustainable development: drivers of fragility
Speakers to assess the impact of economic marginalization, environmental degradation, resource scarcity, migration and gender issues on Maghreb-Sahel fragility, and what is currently being done to address these challenges.
Chair: Kari Osland, Senior Research Fellow and head of the Research group on peace operations and peacebuilding, NUPI
Speakers:
- Clare Castillejo, Senior Researcher, FRIDE
- Morten Bøås, Research Professor, NUPI
- Mustapha Kamel El Sayed, Professor at Cairo University and Director of Partners in Development for Research,Consulting and Training
- Vito Intini, Chief of Planning and Governance Section, UN ESCWA
13:00 – 14:00 - Lunch
14:00 – 15:30 - Session 3
The role of regional and external actors: new avenues for cooperation?
Speakers to explore options and priorities for key regional and external players to jointly tackle the problems identified in the previous panels.
Chair: Kristina Kausch, Head of the Middle East Programme, FRIDE
Speakers:
- Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, Ambassador for Mauritania, former United Nations Special Representative for Somalia and Secretary General Special Representative for West Africa
- Olakunlé Gilles Yabi, Founder, West Africa Citizen Think Tank (WATHI)
- Nathalie Cantan, Policy officer in charge of the Sahel-Sahara, Directorate General for International Relations and Strategy, French Ministry of Defence
15:30 – 16:00 - Closing remarks
Ulf Sverdrup, Director of NUPI
Giovanni Grevi, Director of FRIDE