Globally, political violence declined in 2020, except in Africa. Terrorism and internal conflicts have been the biggest contributors to the global deterioration in peacefulness. According to the Global Peace Index 2020, a total of 97 countries recorded an upsurge in terrorist activity, while only 47 had lower levels of terrorism. More worrisome, the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) remained the world’s least peaceful region, being home to 4 of the 10 least peaceful countries in the world. Moreover, civil unrests in sub-Saharan Africa rose by more than 800 per cent, from 32 riots and protests in 2011 to 292 in 2018 ;
In addition, 3 of the 10 conflicts to worry about in the world as from 2020 are located in Africa – Ethiopia, Mozambique and the Sahel. Moreover, shocks such as natural disasters and the COVID-19 have exacerbated conflicts on across hotspots on the continent. For instance, the number of natural disasters tripled in the last 4 decades, with their economic impacts rising from USD50 billion in the 1980s to USD200 billion per year in the last decade. Also, COVID-19 pandemic-imposed restrictions heightened political and social tensions as frustrations are compounded by economic decline and food shortages. Thus, Africa has come under immense pressure from intensified political violence ;
In response, frameworks to address violent extremism abound especially in the defence and security training institutions across the continent. The training and capacity building programmes conducted at the national military and police academies, staff and defence colleges; peace and security training institutions have proliferated across Africa since the mid-1990s, after the debacles in Rwanda and Somalia, and the consequent reduction of ‘Western’ boots on African soil. As expected, the devolution to Africans, of greater responsibility for peace and security on the continent was matched with a corresponding increase in support for the development of African capacities for countering terrorism, insurgency and violent extremism, through a myriad of training and capacity building programmes at African training institutions across the continent. Nevertheless, political violence continues to multiple across Africa.
