Tswalu Dialogue
The Tswalu Dialogue was established in 2002 as a premier African forum
to discuss issues of concern to continental development and security. The event
is held according to 'RUSI Rules' - the content of the formal papers and the
event itself may be cited, but the discussions remain strictly off the record.
It is hosted by Jonathan and Jennifer Oppenheimer, and for 2006 is
organised by the Brenthurst Foundation in conjunction with the Royal United
Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies (RUSI), African Centre for
Strategic Studies (ACSS), Institute for Defence and Strategic Studies (IDSS),
and SA Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA)
The Tswalu Dialogue was founded on the broad aim of providing a forum on
issues of concern to Africa and its multiple constituencies, sharing ideas,
offering fresh thinking and building consensus through debate and a network of
interested Africanists.
The 2002 Dialogue focused on the creation of the logic of stability and
prosperity in Africa. The 2003 Dialogue analysed reasons for the failure or
dysfunction of those larger African states which have performed badly since
independence, and second, identified appropriate policy solutions. The 2004
Dialogue assessed the impact of the war in Iraq for Africa, and focused on
specific cases of peace/nation-building. The agenda of the 2005 Dialogue
examined the relationship between trade, development and security.
The Dialogue is attended by a mix of policy-makers, analysts, academia,
media and business-people. In the former category, past attendees include:
President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda, Ambassador Jendayi Fraser, former
President FW de Klerk, General David Richards (Deputy Chief of the British
Army), General Seth Obeng (Chief of Staff, Ghana), Smuts Ngonyama (Head of the
ANC Presidency, South Africa), Defence Minister Kwame Addo-Kufuor of Ghana,
General Mario Placido Cirilo de Sa 'Ita' (Director: Angolan Strategic Studies
Centre), Walter Kansteiner (US Assistant Secretary of State: Africa), Deputy
Foreign Ministers Tekeda Alemu and Aziz Pahad (Ethiopia and South Africa
respectively), Foreign Minister Charles Murigande of Rwanda, John Angol (State
Minister for Health, Sudan), Madawi El-Turabi (Secretary-General National
Unionist Party, Sudan), Minister Matangulu (Finance, DRC), Theresa Whelan (US
DASDI - Africa), and Bill Swing (UN envoy, DRC). A range of
internationally-respected African analysts are also among the regular attendees
(including, for example, Jeff Herbst, John Mackinlay, Nic van de Walle,
Christopher Clapham, and Richard Cobbold).
The 2006 theme - Differentiating Africa - braids together local
and external concerns in identifying strategies for stability, recovery and
development, and learning from past successes and failures. Many external
strategies for African engagement take sweeping views of Africa, rather than
the more differentiated perspectives that are demanded by the varying
situations of African states. This event considers the means required to
reinforce the success of those African states which have successfully pursued
reforms and identifies the lessons from their recovery, examines the past
record of Western policy engagement with Africa, considers some of the lessons
from Asia and elsewhere within this context, and establishes what can be done
about those African countries considered to be weak, failing or failed states.
Finally, it considers strategies for successful reform.
The 2006 event departed from the traditional Tswalu format by having a
formal plenary session on the Friday, followed by a breakaway session for
senior governmental representatives on the Saturday. A number of formal papers
were prepared for the sessions.
The 2007 Dialogue focused on the likely roles, shape and structure of
the African military of the twenty-first century. There are a number of
reasons why this topic is important. First, security and stability is an
essential prerequisite to development. Second, there remain security threats to
a large number of African countries and many African militaries face short- or
medium-term threats. Third, the African Union (AU) has undertaken to perform a
range of securityrelated tasks on the continent, including diplomacy, peace
support operations and humanitarian assistance. The African Standby Force (ASF)
introduces, in this regard, another important aspect of co-operation in
organizational and doctrinal matters. These responsibilities will undoubtedly
increase in the future as Western militaries are unlikely to provide even a
small percentage of the peacekeepers that the continent will need. Fourth, the
number of democracies in Africa has increased substantially over the past
quarter-century, raising new challenges about the practice of civil-military
relations. And fifth, there are related concerns about the ability of African
militaries like their counterparts elsewhere to deal with 21st
century security issues: notably, terrorism, rebuilding failed states, and
employing the appropriate technological tools.
