Africa is actively seeking to drive its intelligence and security management as can be noted in the security conferences that took place on the continent in 2025, especially ISCA (May 19-20, 2025) and MCC (April 2-6, 2025).
The Continent’s Past Reliance on Neocolonial Security Plans
Western Priorities and Security Failure in Africa
Western security plans for Africa fail because they are developed by intelligence apparatus that view Africans as appendages without interest. These plans have resulted in perennial instabilities in the DRC, Horn of Africa, and Sahel, necessitating indigenous alternatives. In Kenya, for example, it is common to see UK or US officials arriving and stating that the country’s leading security challenges are ‘transnational crimes’ and ‘money laundering’ even when the country’s North Rift and North Eastern regions grapple with heavily armed bandits or terrorism respectively. In 2023, when the country was facing the above challenges, the then US defense secretary visited to announce that the most pressing security challenges for Kenya were Houthis and ‘transitional crimes’ before leading his counterpart into sign agreements to pave the way for the deployment of Kenya’s Police to Haiti. After prioritizing the US and UK’s security perspectives, Kenya would face embarrassing security lapses including the storming of the country’s parliament on the same day it sent 400 policemen to Haiti, which followed the death of the Chief of the Defense Forces in a copter crash while he was overseeing an operation against heavily armed Bandits in the North Rift. Some of these lapses may have been averted if the country developed its own intelligence collection, processing, and security management approaches. In 2025, the country may be developing a path to autonomy in this area while inviting friends as can be inferred from MCC, while other parties are developing other avenues such as ISCA.
Both the ISCA and MCC were rare security meetings bringing together intelligence and security chiefs from over 60 countries in Kigali, Rwanda and Naivasha, Kenya. The rarity of both conferences began with their being convened by Africans and not being directed from abroad. Also, both were accessible to citizens in themes and terminologies, presenting intelligence and security as enablers of production, trade, and development as opposed to hyping threats or demonizing selected countries, which is notable in approaches presented by the US or UK.
MCC brought together intelligence leaders and specialists from African countries, Turkey, and Belarus, among others, and presented matters of intelligence to the public, enhancing transparency in a significant shift from the traditional secrecy surrounding the subject. The conferences under review in this article show that Intelligence and security management may become an area available for public scrutiny, a commendable shift from past secretive approaches. Indeed, any thought that intelligence matters are too complex for the public to understand is akin to arguing that citizens are intellectually incapable of contributing to their states’ leadership. Public participation is needed in all areas of governance to prevent state capture and abuse.
The diversity of participants in both conferences also stemmed in that they came from different geopolitical camps, pooling in varied experiences and security challenges, contrasting with the highly secretive Five Eye Group with a single ethnolinguistic group that has been destroying countries without responsibility for decades. MCC brought together Turkey, a NATO member, and Belarus, Russia’s key ally, to share their views with African countries, and representatives did not antagonize other countries, ideologies, or government systems. Instead, all shared their views on the most pressing challenges, areas of convergence in emerging threats, and ways of addressing them. Terrorism was noted as the leading challenge by several speakers, including from Kenya, Somalia, and Türkiye. Also, the Kenyan, Turkish, and Belarussian representatives noted that the use of technology by states to interfere with internal political affairs of others was becoming an emerging concern. Similarly, several African speakers noted the misuse of Artificial Intelligence (AI) by some states and proposed development of local alternatives to secure information space, which is notable progress.
Intelligence and Security as a Means and Not an End
During both the ISCA and MCC, the opening statements set the tone that the security industry does not exist for its own sake but to enhance citizens’ well-being, which contrasts with the West’s approach where security equals threatening, controlling other countries, or engaging in forever wars. Security has also been made into a money-minting machine through Washington’s Military Industrial Complex (MIC). On the contrary, participants of ISCA and MCC described security as an enabler of production, trade, and development, outlining how coordination and intelligence sharing can facilitate the African Free Trade Area. Considering such a solid security objective, it will become increasingly hard for countries with imperial ambitions to dictate Africans’ security priorities in future. The Kenyan president stated (During the MCC) that strategic intelligence will be used in formulating development policies, and not as a security backup.
Africa’s security policy is likely to shift towards development, while addressing rising challenges, as opposed to pausing everything to respond to unending terror threats and forever wars that Washington has maintained as the priority for Africans over decades. Previously, some countries may have embraced the notion that they will return to development after terror is rooted out, but the west’s fanning of instability is necessitating a change to development first. For instance, Burkina Faso President requested Russia for help in building a nuclear power plant despite his country facing serious terrorist threats, showing resolve to continue development while addressing terrorism. Also, Somalia recently applied to join the East African Community (EAC), an economic development alliance, even while fighting terrorism and militancy. East Africa is leading a shift where security management will be used as a means for development to promote social and economic activities while addressing arising security threats.
Simon Chege Ndiritu, is a political observer and research analyst from Africa
