By Sheriff Mahmud Ismail
Dakar, Senegal – 8th February, 2023
The West African Security Roundtables being organized by the Brenthurst Foundation of South Africa continued in Dakar on Wednesday, February 8, 2023. Hosted at the Raddison Blue Sea Plaza Hotel in the Senegalese capital, the Dakar Dialogue shone a light on the disaffection of African youths, as well as the anxieties related to climate change and the threats they pose to Africa’s livelihoods, safety and security.
Participants agreed that today’s youth are quite disappointed with the political class over the lack of opportunities on the continent and that they are ready to find their own remedies by whatever means available to them. The factors responsible for such youth despendence are many, including the fact that they feel that even though they may be called in to dialogue; they are not given a voice. Often times, their involvement is merely to listen but not be heard, which continues to be marginalization. Such tokenism only breeds contempt and frustration against the state.
It is also the case that solutions may be available in beautifully written policies but much of the struggle lies in implementation. Until they are given a genuine seat at the table the political leadership will not be able to understand what their felt needs are, nor able to satisfactorily respond to them.
Since the youths have found out that they can be agents of change- whether peacefully or otherwise – this generation is therefore is not waiting for anyone to come and save them; they will search for the solutions by themselves.
It’s reassuring that these realities are being widely acknowledged as problems that require urgent and decisive action. As president Koroma put it, “We must engage, engage and engage with a sense of urgency and sincerity; create and implement policies that will immediately benefit them. That is a matter of political leadership.”
The Security dialogue continues in Niamey, #Niger on Thursday February 9, 2023.
