Event

A zone of fragility has emerged at the Europe’s Southern doorstep that stretches from the Sahel to North Africa and the Mediterranean Sea. Security challenges there are increasingly trans-regional. Many of these are particularly pronounced in border areas, which have emerged as corridors of militancy, organized crime and economic marginalization.

This  seminar addresses the main drivers and manifestations of fragility across the Maghreb and Sahel including key security threats, governance failures, ethnic issues and resource scarcity. It also aims to explore concrete options for regional and international actors to work together to tackle these challenges and improve human security across this vast region.

The seminar is organised by FRIDE and NUPI with the kind support of Hivos and the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Programme 09.00 - 16.00:

9:00 - 9:30 - Opening remarks

Ulf Sverdrup, Director of NUPI

Giovanni Grevi, Director of FRIDE

Ben Witjes, Director of Programme and Projects, Hivos

Knut Langeland, Special Envoy for the Sahel and Maghreb, Norwegian MFA

9:30 - 11:00 - Session 1

Trans-regional security challenges

Speakers to assess radicalization, terrorism/militancy, ethnic tensions, illicit trafficking and other trans-national criminal activities, and what is currently being done to address these challenges.

Chair: Morten Bøås, Research Professor, NUPI

Speakers:

• Anouar Boukhars, Associate Researcher at FRIDE and Non-Resident Scholar at Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
• Georg Klute, Professor of Anthropology of Africa, Bayreuth University
• Francesco Strazzari, Senior Research Fellow at NUPI and  Associate Professor of International Relations at the Pisa-based Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies
• Mary Fitzgerald, Independent analyst

11:00 – 11:30 - Coffee break

11:30 – 13:00 - Session 2

Unsustainable development: drivers of fragility

Speakers to assess the impact of economic marginalization, environmental degradation, resource scarcity, migration and gender issues on Maghreb-Sahel fragility, and what is currently being done to address these challenges.

Chair: Kari Osland, Senior Research Fellow and head of the Research group on peace operations and peacebuilding, NUPI

Speakers:

• Clare Castillejo, Senior Researcher, FRIDE
• Morten Bøås, Research Professor, NUPI
• Mustapha Kamel El Sayed, Professor at Cairo University and Director of Partners in Development for Research,Consulting and Training
• Vito Intini, Chief of Planning and Governance Section, UN ESCWA

13:00 – 14:00 - Lunch

14:00 – 15:30 - Session 3

The role of regional and external actors: new avenues for cooperation?

Speakers to explore options and priorities for key regional and external players to jointly tackle the problems identified in the previous panels.

Chair: Kristina Kausch, Head of the Middle East Programme, FRIDE

Speakers:       

• Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, Ambassador for Mauritania, former United Nations Special Representative for Somalia and Secretary General Special Representative for West Africa
• Olakunlé Gilles Yabi, Founder, West Africa Citizen Think Tank (WATHI)
• Nathalie Cantan, Policy officer in charge of the Sahel-Sahara, Directorate General for International Relations and Strategy, French Ministry of Defence

15:30 – 16:00 - Closing remarks

Ulf Sverdrup, Director of NUPI

Giovanni Grevi, Director of FRIDE