African Peace and Security Dialogue: Role of the Thabo Mbeki Foundation

Abstract

The article discusses the role of a new actor in the African security system – the Thabo Mbeki Foundation. The Foundation promotes dialogue on peace and security in Africa, complements the existing security architecture, created primarily on the basis of the African Union. The author reveals the values of the new Dialogue whose key objectives are a clear framing of the current security challenges facing Africa; uprooting the causes and drivers of the conflicts in the continent – both endogenous and exogenous; developing the peace architecture; understanding the nature and character of the prevailing conditions in the Horn of Africa and West Africa, and whether the multilateral efforts can make a modest contribution to achieving lasting peace in these regions. In organizing the dialogue between governments and nonstate acrors, the Thabo Mbeki Foundation tries to foster a culture of collaboration that transcended political divides and national borders. The African Peace and Security Dialogue tries to fill a gap by providing a platform to bridge the multilateral efforts in the attempt that a continent-wide dialogue might serve as a nexus where the insights, strategies, and recommendations from other negotiation fora are being synthesised.