Summary on the Theme

The Context

This year (2022) marks the 10th Anniversary of the Tana High-Level Forum on Security in Africa, the flagship annual event to engage in deep reflections to find solutions to the continent’s myriad peace and security challenges. It coincides with a unique moment in Africa and the world primarily due to the fragilities imposed by the unforeseen outbreak and spread of the Covid-19 pandemic and state measures to curb it. While old fault lines remain, new ones are producing tensions and threats that are converging within- rather than outside- states in a way that is exposing the underbelly of fractured state- society relations.

The signals of threats to peace and security across the African landscape are evident in the decline of democratisation, weakening of critical public institutions, the resurgence of ethnoreligious and other parochial identities, food insecurity and weak preparedness of African state to address its impact and externalities, and the proliferation of actors and risks in ways previously not contemplated. Yet even at that, the prevailing cloud of uncertainty provides the opportunity to think deeply and act decisively to confront such triggers and enablers of today’s insecurities. Understanding Africa’s security threats today also requires rethinking the role of actors and initiatives at national, regional and continental levels and that of international partners in soliciting solutions

Download the full Tana 2022 Summary on the theme documents  Theme Summary(en)