Morten Bøås, the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI)

The Sahel region confronts both its inhabitants and the international community with a huge set of serious challenges, ranging from weak states, transnational crime and jihadist insurgencies to poverty, refugees and lack of development. Thus, as the international community and Europe fear a deepening of the crisis, the region is higher on the international agenda than it ever has been, with several international interventions: by France (Operation Barkhane), the United Nations (MINUSMA), and several EU operations (CIVCAP-Sahel and the EUTM Mali). Despite all these efforts and the conclusion of a peace agreement for Mali in Algiers in 2015, the situation on the ground is not improving, and in Mali the conflict has spilled over from the northern to the central region. The question that will be discussed in this seminar is if current approaches contains the right balance between security and development, and what balance there should be between the priorities of external stakeholders and the local needs in the region.

Adekeye Adebajo, Institute for Pan-African Thought and Conversation, University of Johannesburg

Nigeria and South Africa account for about a third of Africa’s economic might, and have led much of its conflict management initiates over the last two decades and a half. Both account for at least 60 per cent of the economy of their respective sub-regions in West and Southern Africa. The success of political and economic integration in Africa thus rests heavily on the shoulders of these two regional powers who have both collaborated and competed with each other in a complex relationship that is Africa’s most indispensable. Nigeria remains among South Africa’s largest trading partners in Africa, while both countries have cooperated in
building the institutions of the African Union (AU). Both countries have also had a tremendous cultural impact on the continent in terms of Nollywood movies and the expansion of South Africa’s corporate sector into Africa. Professor Adekeye Adebajo assess Nigeria/South Africa relations in the areas of politics, economics, and culture within the context of rivalries and hegemony. Biographical profiles are also provided of important figures from both countries.