30.10.2018
Afrika News
During the World Policy Conference that took place from October 26 to October 28 in Rabat, Morocco, we met up with Sékou Koureissy Condé, the former minister of security of the Republic of Guinea.
The President of the African Crisis Group, in Ouagadougou, Sékou Koureissy Condé is today a renowned expert in the prevention and in the resolution of conflicts in Africa. Here’s our interview with the peace ambassador.
What is the long term-plan of African Crisis Group?
Once we have attained recognition in Africa as an independent structure of mediation, and crisis resolution, we developed a proximity to civil society organizations in Africa. We started by launching a few projects such as the creation of a civil society hub and the conception of a meeting project between these organizations.
In the coming years, we are working as a think tank to develop a cross-regional awareness campaign and provide the African civil society with a collaborative mechanism to tackle the key issues that interest us.
How do you plan on dealing with Africa’s upcoming population boom?
Africa’s population boom is an asset insofar as other continents are concerned: Europe, Asia, and particularly China are demographically stagnating.
However, this has to be a progressive element for the development and peacebuilding in Africa. The question is how to stay in Africa and how to make it a continent of migration instead of immigration.
It is about how others could come to Africa to share with us our experiences and our abilities in terms of demography and natural resources. It is also how to focus on the technology learning and the input of Europe and other contributions to establish transparent partnerships in the fields of technology and wealth creation.
All of this depends, once again, on African governance and democracy and on the strategic projects that we would be able to envision for youth’s employment and integration.
What are the strategies developed by African Crisis Group to make African countries more “startup friendly” for young people?
The African Crisis Group is a consulting firm with an associative status working on promoting youth and developing their skills. The danger that we are facing today is related to youth’s disorientation by the African political class.
Young people need to be placed in a context of work, business creation, responsibility and of encouragement so they could be empowered to develop their own startups with a focus on the digital field.
We need to create and cultivate an entrepreneurial mindset to convince young people of their abilities to create small-scale activities even in their villages with the encouragement of the African governments including universities, schools, banks… it has to be a priority for the African governance.
What are the projects that the African Crisis Group is developing in order to help the marginalized and powerless women living in rural areas?
African Crisis group is a structure of listening and support. We are focused on areas at risk and conflicts zones via procedures of mediation, awareness, and education. That said, local development is a major issue in Africa. Across Africa and through our different networks, we don’t have a direct influence on “women” initiatives in terms of craftsmanship, breeding, agriculture, and fishing, but we are sensible towards their issues and concerns and we are only relaying what we have observed on the spot.
Nous visitons souvent les pays à risque, comme le Mali, le Burkina et bien sur la Guinée, et, l’occasion nous a été souvent donné pour rencontrer les ONG féminines avec lesquelles nous échangeons. Nous ne pouvons pas parler de développement sans assurer la sécurité. En ce qui concerne les femmes, il s’agit de sécurité humaine et financière, et dans ce cas, nous servons d’intermédiaire pour les mettre en relation avec des organisations compétentes et appropriées à leurs attentes.
The implication of women in development and the establishment of subjective and objective conditions for a better production, is a priority that we share.
We often visit countries at risk like Mali, Burkina Faso and of course Guinea as we usually got the opportunity to meet and network with women’s NGOs.
We can’t talk about development without ensuring security.
As far as women are concerned, it’s about human and financial security, and in this case, we intervene as an intermediary to help them reach the competent and appropriate organisations they need.
How do you plan on raising awareness through civic education and how do you plan on engaging the citizens ?
The role of African civil society organisations is extremely important, but unfortunately, it is still marginalized. African governments shouldn’t neglect them, instead, they should focus on promoting and consolidating these organizations. For instance, Mali is in conflict since 2012, and such is the case for Burkina Faso, as the country is confronting repetitive terrorist attacks.
No country in West Africa is spared from these threats. When Burkina Faso is affected, all of West Africa is affected.
Civil society organisations working near borders and with a direct interaction with the peasants need to create a synergy, together to consider alternative solutions.
Economic, diplomatic, political and financial responses did not achieve the required results. It is the implication of the civil society that can have a real added value, especially that most of the organizations are very advanced and motivated with experienced individuals and engaged youth.
Together, we can find real solutions.
Police brutality is an important issue in Guinea. What do you think is the solution to cease violence between the state and the citizens ?
It is with great concern that we are observing a crisis of trust between the state and the citizens in Guinea. Poorly supervised demonstrations often end up in regrettable violent scenes. What’s more regrettable is the state of mind in which all of this is happening.
There has to be restraint, the Guinean state has to take into consideration the persistence of this phenomenon of violence and agitation in order to definitely consider what we call a “national dialogue”. We need to get everyone to trust each other and ensure that all of the factors and structures are in engaged in the dialogue, in the easing of tension and in the promotion of peace so we can focus on real issues.
Guinea is a country that has great potential, a promising demography, but instability is slowing it down. We cannot encourage this especially that there are solutions that could be considered. It’s the state that has the means to means to bring the citizens and the state closer.
Democracy and governance are the questions, that in my opinion, should be redefined in Africa. We have been independent for sixty years. Our issues should be about development, technology, education,… as if our independence was only founded the basis of political work.
Democracy is based on the history of nations and draws its resources from the history of the concerned societies. From this point, we have a model of democracy presented, which is possible, a model that allows to live all together in peace.