African securityIllegal population flows and African security
FOI, the Swedish research institute, brought together scientists and experts from a number of countries to take part in a one-day conference at Medelhavsmuseet in Stockholm on illegal population flows and their consequences in Africa.
FOI, the Swedish research institute, brought together scientists and experts from a number of countries to take part in a one-day conference at Medelhavsmuseet in Stockholm on illegal population flows and their consequences in Africa. The day was arranged by FOI and the Nordic Africa Institute.
Participants in this conference on Africa’s illegal population flows and the security situation included delegates from a range of government departments, authorities, universities and organizations.
The opening addresses were given by Iina Soiri, director of the Nordic Africa Institute (NAI), and Maria Lignell Jakobsson, head of defense analysis at FOI.
A FOI release reports that the day featured eleven presentations by various experts on topics including trafficking, arms dealing, and medicine and drug smuggling. Commentators from the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Radio Sweden, and the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Center summarized the presentations after which delegates took part in open question-and-answer sessions with the experts.
State Secretary Carl von der Esch from the Ministry of Defense also addressed the conference.
It was his belief that the important thing for Sweden was to concentrate on a number of broad solutions. Sweden’s work for improved security in Africa is channeled partly through aid and partly through cooperation with the EU in working to stabilize various regions in Africa.
One highlight of the program was the film shown by anthropologist and photographer Christian Vium about young men in Africa who bid farewell to their families, families who have often struggled to raise the money for the dangerous journey as an illegal immigrant to Europe. For these young African men there is no alternative but to leave their homelands. It was a film that felt both topical and important in giving the attendees better understanding of these emigrants.
“We have built up our knowledge in the field of African security over a period of five years working with NAI. This one-day conference is a clear example of our fruitful cooperation and it shows the level of interest generated when a topic is illuminated from many different perspectives. Trafficking, drug and arms smuggling stimulate the illegal market and increase the corruption which, in many African countries, undermines the building of stable and secure states. This activity also leads to much suffering. There are important and difficult questions to be taken up, and much work remains to be done if these questions are to be properly addressed in the interests of helping to stabilize the situation in Africa,” says Maria Lignell Jakobsson from FOI.
