The Regional Director, Anglophone and Lusophone Africa at the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue, Dr Babatunde Tolu Afolabi, has said that good governance, human rights and social justice within societies remain the best bulwark against socio-political instability and conflicts.
Afolabi stated this during a seminar held at the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA), Lagos, with the theme: “Socio-political instability and conflicts in the Horn of Africa: Lessons for West Africa.’
He lamented that there is no meaningful sub-regional or collective security approach to dealing with threats to peace and security in East Africa.
“There is an inability of the regional bloc, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), to serve as a platform for addressing threats to regional peace and stability,” he lamented.
He said that the Horn is a victim of its unique geography, making it vulnerable to geopolitical and geostrategic machinations from outside as well as contestation and competition among the states, essentially neighbours, often cousins across the border, that make up the region.
“The desperate nature of politics in the Horn, largely alluded to by the likes of de Waal, accounts for the scourge of conflict in the region, especially between the countries that share borders and ethnicities in Horn,” Afolabi stated.
The regional director decried that West Africa is not completely immune from the impact of insecurity in the Horn of Africa.
He, therefore, stressed the need to strengthen West Africa’s sub-regional peace and security framework, adding that there is a need to reinvigorate the regional security and mechanisms as well as take stock of existing frameworks and instruments to determine whether they are fit for purpose in the face of new threats to peace and stability.
Director-General of NIIA, Prof. Eghosa Osaghae, applauded Afolabi for the insightful presentation.