“African countries have made great strides in peacekeeping and continue to work hard to develop common peacekeeping doctrines at the strategic, operational and tactical levels,” Mr. Michael Garrison, Acting Director of the Africa Center for Strategic Studies (ACSS) said in closing remarks at the Enhancing Peace Operations in Africa Workshop organized by ACSS on August 12-15, 2013.

The workshop brought together approximately 36 participants from 18 troop-contributing countries; the African Union (AU); the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS); the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD); and the Southern African Development Community (SADC); as well as U.S. and international representatives from the United Nations (UN) peacekeeping community of practice, to examine lessons-learned in African peacekeeping to improve peace operations on the continent.

“I am very pleased to see that many of the strategic issues that were identified in the African Executive Dialogue [AED] organized by the Africa Center earlier this year have filtered through the discussions at this workshop,” Mr. Garrison told participants. “It shows that many key ideas are starting to become more harmonized from the strategic right down to the tactical level.”

The African Executive Dialogue (AED), a high-level dialogue between senior African security professionals and government representatives and senior U.S. government officials was held in Washington DC on April 10-12, 2013.

“The discussions however must not end here,” Mr. Garrison cautioned. “You are now an important part of a community of practice consisting of over 6,000 ACSS alumni across Africa and other parts of the world, and we invite you to make use of the platforms we have available to continue this policy dialogue, and we will be there to facilitate and assist in any way we can.

”Dr. Raymond Gilpin, the ACSS Academic Dean, summarized the four main crosscutting outcomes as: The need for clear and unambiguous peacekeeping mandates; the right mix of instruments to effectively conduct multidimensional and increasingly complex peace operations; enhance coordination and flexibility in the theater of operations; and tailored training to respond to the demands of the evolving peacekeeping environment including strategic leadership training.
“These issues are not exhaustive, but they reflect a good start that we should all build upon in the months and years ahead,” Dr. Gilpin said. “Effective networking and frank dialogue will be key to that process”.

ACSS is the pre-eminent institution for strategic security studies, research, and outreach in Africa. The Africa Center engages African partner states and institutions through rigorous academic and outreach programs that build strategic capacity and foster long-term, collaborative relationships. Over the past 14 years, more than 6,000 Africa and international leaders have participated in over 200 ACSS programs.

See photos of the event here.