According to former president John Mahama, Africa must confront its problems with peace and security head-on rather than relying on the deployment of troops, additional equipment, and drone technology to counter the dangers.
At the 10th Tana High-Level Forum on Security in Bahir Dar, Ethiopia, Mahama gave a presentation on the State of Peace and Security in Africa 2021.
He stated that in order to prevent the fires from spreading over the entire continent, Africa and its institutions must "rather find the source of the regional insecurity fire and extinguish the flames."
He claims that instead of simply using its resources to put out extremist flames and acting like a fire brigade, only responding when it is already too late, Africa must take into account the time-tested "spirit of entrepreneurship so that we can fight the trade war."
Despite having access to crucial institutions and processes for averting and resolving conflict, Africa appears unable to prevent crises on the front end, as stated by John Mahama, the Chairperson of the Tana Forum Board.
Therefore, he stated that we now need to interpret Africa's crisis situations as regional crises with national elements due to the extent of cross-border engagement and exchange as well as the growing reach of globalization.
The report claims that in 2021, Africa will see a reversal of some of the democratic gains made in the 1990s and 2000s. This will be accompanied by a rise in unconstitutional government changes, competition for state power, the regionalization of violent conflict, a return to authoritarian rule, and the undermining of the rule of law, all of which are factors in violent conflict.
In order to encourage young people on the continent to actively work to prevent and resolve conflict as well as promote post-conflict reconstruction, peacebuilding, and transitional justice, the report also urges the AU's Commission for Political Affairs, Peace, and Security to create special programs of work with the AU Special Envoy for Youth and the African Youth Ambassadors.
