Youth, Security & Peace in Africa: youth leader panel offers insight, ideas

To better understand what the burgeoning youth population means for Africa’s future, AFRICOM hosted a panel of youth leaders in Stuttgart, Germany, to discuss ideas for engaging African youth as a means to promote peace throughout the continent.

By Patrick Loch , U.S. Africa Command Stuttgart, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany Oct 22, 2019

View Gallery

Gallery contains 6 images

“The youth population will more than double by 2050. There will be approximately one billion young people in Africa,” said Sheila Roquitte, deputy development advisor, U.S. Africa Command. “Everyone in the world wants the same thing. We all want security; we all want education for our kids; we all need healthcare. We all need the same basic things, and in Africa it’s no different.”

To better understand what the burgeoning youth population means for Africa’s future, AFRICOM, in coordination with the U.S. Agency for International Development, hosted a panel of youth leaders in Stuttgart, Germany, Oct. 15, 2019, to discuss ideas for engaging African youth as a means to promote peace throughout the continent.

During their visit, the three youth leaders representing Somalia, Cameroon and Uganda offered their experience and efforts in engaging African youth with employees from AFRICOM during morning and afternoon panel discussions. Meetings were also held with senior leaders from the Command to share how they are working on preventing conflict in their countries and dealing with issues of deradicalization, reintegration, and rehabilitation.

Part of the conversation involved current and future demographic projections in Africa.

“In my country alone, 78 percent of the population is under the age of 30,” said Ilwad Elman, a 2019 Nobel Peace Prize nominee from Somalia. “And 56 percent of that is under the age of 15. The opportunity exists for governments to engage young people, because the majority are peaceful and want to be part of the process.”

Panelists noted that there is a general perception amongst youth that their voices are not heard in political and governing processes. Elman indicated that the biggest threat to stability in Africa is the systematic exclusion of youth because if they feel they are not heard, they will use other channels to register their dissent.

“Some of the things that came out of the discussions were how violent extremist organizations understand what the youth want – and need – and when nobody else is able to provide that then they will look to alternatives,” said Roquitte.

“It’s part of what we’re trying to do with AFRICOM’s training of local security forces, through the State Department’s interaction at the national policy level and what USAID does on development on the community and national level,” said Michael McCabe, youth coordinator, USAID. “The majority of young people in Africa are intensely interested in being partners in their community’s development, partners in building peaceful solutions in their countries.”

Victor Ochen, United Nations Global Goals Ambassador for Peace and Justice and 2015 Nobel Peace Prize nominee from Uganda, spoke about helping youth overcome the traumas of war and organize youth programs with the goal of making wars less common in Africa.

“Let us practice development, let us practice democracy where we can vote our way to power,” Ochen said. “Not kill our way to power, that’s not a goal for this generation.”

Panelists urged AFRICOM to see youth as positive agents for change and not only as potential perpetrators or victims.

“We have been able to listen to young people, get close to them,” said Christian Achaleke, Commonwealth Youth Peace Ambassadors Network – Africa coordinator, on his time working in prisons in Cameroon to deradicalize and reintegrate violent extremists as a means to promote peace throughout the continent.

The key messages were well received by AFRICOM leadership and staff, Roquitte said.

“With youth as the majority of the population, and if AFRICOM wants to achieve a stable, peaceful and prosperous Africa, the best return on investment will be through engaging youth,” Roquitte said. “This is just the first step in the process.”

-30-

Federal Government of Somalia engages ISIS-Somalia with support from U.S. Forces

Africa Endeavor

U.S. Forces conduct strike against ISIS-Somalia

U.S. Africa Command 2025 Posture Statement to Senate Armed Services Committee

U.S. Forces conduct strike against ISIS-Somalia

Army lawyers provide training on rules for armed conflict at exercise Justified Accord

NAIROBI, Kenya – Among the flurry of tactical live fires and squad movement drills, air ground integration and even the humanitarian initiatives at exercise Justified Accord 2025 (JA25), lies the one thing those who serve in any armed force must follow: The Law. The Law of Armed Conflict, or LOAC, is a key aspect of training for any military. JA25’s academics course aimed at learning from the international legal lessons of previous wars in an effort to reduce the amount of human suffering in future conflicts. “The soldier’s rules are a broad set of rules that we have pulled from the large breadth of international law,” said U.S. Army Maj. Tim Olliges, an operational law attorney assigned to U.S. Army Southern European Task Force, Africa (SETAF-AF), the lead U.S. Army command and planner of JA25. “The LOAC is extensive and can be complex, so we pull out the ten most critical concepts that every soldier, right down to the private, should know before they go into combat.”

US, Kenya prepare for the unimaginable CBRN threat

NAIROBI, Kenya – Imagine two scenarios. Scenario 1: Dawn breaks over the capital of Kenya. A U.S. diplomat leaves his residence for the embassy. After a 20-minute ride, his car arrives at the gate and he enters. He sits in his office to begin the day when, all of a sudden, he hears an explosion through the open window. It seems far off; it is not a large explosion. He thinks maybe it was just a car accident, but minutes later he smells something bitter in the air. His eyes water, sirens blare and a U.S. Marine Corps security detail enters his office wearing gas masks. They put a mask on him and tell him they must evacuate immediately because a deadly chemical is blowing over the compound. Scenario 2: U.S. intelligence receives credible information that radiological material is being loaded onto a ship in the Kenyan port city of Mombasa. Time is short and no one knows which ship, only that it will embark soon, possibly bound for the hands of violent extremists or other state actors looking to imperil the U.S. homeland. There is no time to send U.S. security forces to intercept the package. Instead, the Kenyan Disaster Response Battalion (DRB) mobilizes and arrives at the port. Using tactics and tools gained from years of training with the United States, they find the ship and the weapon, placed there by a violent extremist organization, and prevent its departure, defeating the threat to America and its citizens. Similar scenarios have happened before in other areas of the world.

36th Annual International Military Chiefs of Chaplains Conference and First Chaplain Africa Forum held in Brussels

The U.S. European Command (EUCOM) and Belgian Ministry of Defence, in partnership with U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) and U.S. Indo Pacific Command (INDOPACOM) Chaplain Directorates, hosted the world’s largest annual meeting of senior military religious leaders at the 36th Annual NATO & Partner International Military Chiefs of Chaplains Conference (IMCCC) in Brussels, Belgium, January 27-31, 2025.

Army lawyers provide training on rules for armed conflict at exercise Justified Accord

US, Kenya prepare for the unimaginable CBRN threat

36th Annual International Military Chiefs of Chaplains Conference and First Chaplain Africa Forum held in Brussels

Army lawyers provide training on rules for armed conflict at exercise Justified Accord

US, Kenya prepare for the unimaginable CBRN threat

36th Annual International Military Chiefs of Chaplains Conference and First Chaplain Africa Forum held in Brussels

United States Africa Command

Youth, Security & Peace in Africa: youth leader panel offers insight, ideas

To better understand what the burgeoning youth population means for Africa’s future, AFRICOM hosted a panel of youth leaders in Stuttgart, Germany, to discuss ideas for engaging African youth as a means to promote peace throughout the continent.

Youth, Peace & Security panel

Youth, Peace & Security panel

Youth, Peace & Security panel

Youth, Peace & Security panel

Youth, Peace & Security panel

Youth, Peace & Security panel