More than 70 academics and regional experts in African security related issues gathered July 13, 2010 in Dakar for the fourth U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) Academic Symposium designed to help the command gain a better understanding of how it can improve support to peace and security efforts in Africa.

Participants at the three-day event represent academic and policy-focused institutions from 25 African and four European countries, Canada and the United States, who are experts in such areas as history, political science, conflict management, trans-national threats, and economics. The conference includes about 15 senior officers and employees from the staff headquarters of U.S. Africa Command.

AFRICOM has organized this and previous events with the Africa Center for Strategic Studies (ACSS), the U.S. Department of Defense's leading institution for strategic studies, research and outreach in Africa.

Consulting with the academic community supports the command's objectives to improve its work with African partners, according to Admiral Ousmane Ibrahima Sall, Senegal's deputy chief of defense and honored guest at the symposium's opening ceremony.

By attending, Sall said to the participants, "you have once again proven solidarity of all Africans in the wake of major challenges that this continent is facing; Africa cannot address its challenges alone."

He said African countries can achieve their security goals through regional cooperation and sharing resources with partner nations.

As part of the command's outreach activities with departments and agencies of the U.S. government, international and non-governmental organizations, and other audiences, these symposiums help the U.S. military develop its knowledge base of African security topics, according to Ambassador J. Anthony Holmes, the U.S. Africa Command deputy to the commander for civil-military activities.

Holmes, the symposium's keynote speaker, said the week's activities underscore the increased priority the command places on listening and learning from various perspectives to "give us very frank reactions to the things we do and the way we do them … so that we can do what we do better and more effectively."

To that end, the program features a series of presentations supported by small-group discussions with a goal to look at recommendations for Africa Command's contribution to security and stability efforts.

Two more symposiums are planned for 2011. AFRICOM's first academic symposium was held in the United States in 2008, and the second in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in 2009. Just this past April, Africa Command held its third in Stuttgart, Germany, where its headquarters is based, in cooperation with the Near East South Asia Center for Strategic Studies (NESA).