Why ISCA Will Be Different

Former chief of staff to President Muhammadu Buhari and member of the International Security Advisory Council on Africa, Professor Ibrahim Gambari, has assured the association that it will use preventive measures, mediation, and home-grown conflict methods to address security challenges across the continent.

Speaking in Kigali, Rwanda’s capital, after the organisation’s meeting, Professor Gambari said ISCA will prioritise preventive measures and take mediation and conflict resolution seriously, which were lacking in the previous international missions in Africa.

He pointed out that the most realistic approach to dealing with situations like those in Africa is activating mechanisms to prevent conflicts. Where there are potential conflicts, mediation to resolve those conflicts should be a top priority.

He explained that the previous missions failed because they could not address the root causes of the conflicts they sought to end.

He pointed out that ISCA will make a conscious effort of learning from lessons as to why previous missions did not succeed.

According to him, ISCA, as an international organisation, will be run by Africans who live in Africa and understand the continent far more than people outside of Africa.

” We have to take ownership and address our problems from an African perspective because we live in Africa; others have an interest, but they don’t live here.

“We have several mechanisms, like the Africa Peer Review mechanism, for which I was privileged to be chairman of the panel of experts. We have an African governance architecture and several protocols, but there was no study of lessons learnt about why they are not succeeding or failing.

” So, ISCA, from what I have seen, will be interconnected and will make a difference.

” It will pull together the various stances on governance issues as part of security and broaden the concept of security.

“It’s something that should be sustainable and predictable. For instance, ISCA will be held every year, so we know that we will come together to evaluate what we have done the year before and know in advance what is going to happen the following year.

” But in between the conference studies will be commissioned, and that is where the role of the advisory council is important,” he declared.

The advisory council’s role includes providing oversight on stakeholder engagement and advising the executive secretary on strategic decisions and partnerships.