Mahamadou Issoufou - Afrikan Heroes

Mahamadou Issoufou brings African vision to the World at the Dialogue of Civilizations

October 15, 2019

The Dialogue of Civilisations which took place during the 17th Rhodes Forum on the 11th and 12th of October 2019 was organised by the Dialogue of Civilizations Research Institute, to discuss several national and regional issues and offer Africa’s vision on major international issues. Special guest at this year’s event was the President of Niger Republique and present Chairman of the African Union, President Mahamadou Issoufou.

President of Niger Republique and present Chairman of the African Union, President Mahamadou Issoufou

President Issofou used the opportunity to present his vision for Africa and Niger, advocating for multilateralism and drawing attention to the security situation in the Sahel region and Lake Chad Basin, the situation in Libya and support of the international community to combat terrorism in West Africa. He warned that the problems posed by climate change and illegal migration if left unattained to will create another circle of violence across the region.

This event comes at a time Niger is ascending the position of a non-permanent member of the Security Council from January 2020 thus it has a big role in projecting African interests and representations. Another issue he highlighted was the challenges of counterfeiting in drugs across the markets in Africa. He equally called for reforms in global political and economic governance and win-win cooperation between countries.

On the next day of the Dialogue, President Issoufou concluded by participating in a panel dedicated to partnership between Africa and the rest of the world. The Panel discussion was moderated by Hannane Ferdjani of Africanews. Participants included the Founder of Transparency International, Africa Progress Panel Co-Chair Mr Peter Eigen from Germany, Founder and President of the Brazzaville Foundation Mr Jean Yves Olivier from France, former Prime Minister of Guinea Mr Kabiné Komara, Director of Education Projects of ABO Capital Mr Jaimie Graça from Angola and South African Industrialist, Entrepreneur and Philanthropist Mr Ivor Ichikovitz.

In his speech, President Issoufou raised all the issues related to this theme and clarified his vision for the development of Africa. His Excellency Mahamadou Issoufou emphasised the challenges and prospects inherent in the development of the African continent, recalling the situation of Africa in various fields and underlining the efforts led by its leaders through, inter alia, Agenda 2063 and its various Plans and Projects, including ZLECAf.

President Issoufou again thanked the Dialogue of Civilizations Research Institute and in particular its Chairman of the Board of Directors, Dr. Vladimir Yakunin and Executive Director Mr. Jean-Christophe Bas, ‘for having provided him, as a Special Guest, at this 17th Rhodes Forum, a privileged place of reflection and analysis to help in the decision-making of political and economic world leaders.’

Kelechi Deca

Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry.

President Mahamadou Issoufou Keynotes This Year’s Rhodes Forum

September 23, 2019

President Mahamadou Issoufou has been announced as the keynote speaker in this year’s Rhodes Forum which will take place in New York. The Rhodes Forum is regarded as the flagship global affairs conference. This year’s Forum which is the 17^th will focus on global order and security. According to the Dialogue of Civilizations Research Institute (DOC), organizers of the Forum, President Issoufou will share an African perspective on issues related to global order, security and economic development with the Rhodes Forum’s audience of more than 300 senior policymakers, diplomats, academics and businesspeople from around the world. He will also participate in the Forum’s Focus on Africa panel to discuss how the continent can become a driver of global development.

Speaking on what informed the choice of President Issoufou, the CEO of Dialogue Civilizations Research Institute (DOC), Jean-Christophe Bas said that with President Issoufou, the DOC is proud to welcome to Rhodes a major leader of the African continent, and one who was instrumental in the launch of the African Free Trade Zone last July in Niamey. He added that the shape of the future global order, security and development are central themes of this year’s Rhodes Forum, which continues our established focus on Africa and African development.

It is in this context, says Jean-Christophe Bas, and also the fact that Niger is set to join the UN Security Council as a non-permanent member in January 2020, that President Issoufou’s intervention at the 17th Rhodes Forum will be timely and authoritative. “I am sure that the Forum’s high-level and influential audience will all benefit from his insights, and I expect this year’s Rhodes Forum to make a substantive contribution to current debates around Africa’s future as a pillar of the global order and driver of economic growth” he argued.

Other African leaders that have graced the Rhodes Forum in the past as keynote speakers are former President Goodluck Jonathan, Prime Minister of Guinea Ibrahima Kassory Fofana and former Malian President Dioncounda Traoré.

Kelechi Deca

Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry.

West African Leaders to Raise $1 Billion for War on Terrorism

September 16, 2019

West African leaders have agreed to work together to tackle the growing menace of terrorism in the sub-region by providing the much needed financial backing to the campaign. As part of this, the leaders pledged the sum of $1 billion to acquire weaponry and provide training assistance to their military. This was made known yesterday in a communiqué signed after their meeting in Ouagadougou Burkina Faso yesterday. The United Nations warned few months ago that Islamist attacks were spreading so fast in West Africa that the region should consider bolstering its response beyond current military efforts.

Speaking on the development, The President of Republic of Niger Mahamadou Issoufou said that ECOWAS has decided that it is time to take the issue of spiraling banditry and terrorism in the region serious and to match words with action, the member countries have decided to finance the project by contributing 1 billion dollars to the financing of the joint forces and to the reinforcement of the operational capabilities and of state intelligence.

The pledge which is to be funded from 2020 to 2024 was announced on Saturday at the end of the Economic Community Summit of West African States (ECOWAS) in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.

Groups with links to al Qaeda and Islamic State have strengthened their foothold across the arid Sahel region this year, making large swathes of territory ungovernable and stoking local ethnic violence, especially in Mali and Burkina Faso.

The fifteen members of the West African bloc and the presidents of Mauritania and Chad had gathered for an extraordinary summit in Burkina Faso’s capital to address the growing insecurity.

President of Republic of Niger Mahamadou Issoufou

President Issoufo blamed the international community for the crisis saying that they are the cause of the Libyan crisis and the Libyan crisis is responsible for the banditry across the Sahel and the Lake Chad basin, thus the need for the region to rise to the occasion and tackle the situation headlong. He added that the Sahel region and Lake Chad expected a bigger contribution in the fight against radical Islamists from the international community which he said caused the Libyan crisis that was putting pressure on the region.

Kelechi Deca

Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry.