Recent years have witnessed a high number of relevant developments in the proliferation and use of drones in Africa in security and conflict contexts. Armed drones with different characteristics, from larger models to improvised gadgets, have been deployed by state and non-state actors and are influencing the way security and conflict are envisaged and practiced. In these contexts, drones are used not only as a weapon, but also as an advance recognition asset in support of more conventional warfare. At the same time, external intervention in Africa is expanding through the use of drones and other state-of-the-art warfare, while African citizens continue to be regular casualties of Western drone strikes in the continent’s territory. Yet the presence of foreign drones in Africa is happening through other means as well, including the construction of foreign drone bases and through aggressive commercial practices from foreign defence industries. Finally, some African states are joining other countries around the world in using drones in a law enforcement context.
This workshop is the first activity of the project Transnational Academic Network for the Study of Armed Drones (TRANSAD) and provides an opportunity to discuss and generate new knowledge on the developments described above. Additionally, it will allow a broader discussion on the role of Africa in security thinking and its specificities in the context of wider contemporary security trends.
Conference programme
8:45 – Coffee
9:00 – Welcome and opening remarks
Bruno Oliveira Martins, PRIO
Henrik Urdal, Director, PRIO
9:15 – 10:30 – Actors and Dynamics
Atta Barkindo, The Kukah Centre, Nigeria
Arthur Holland Michel, Centre for the Study of the Drone, Bard College, US
Dan Mahanty, Centre for Civilians in Conflict
Chair and discussant: Delina Goxho, Open Society European Policy Institute
10:45-12:00 – External intervention and Civilian Impact
Osama Mansour, Airwars, Libya/UK
Wim Zwijnenburg, European Forum on Armed Drones
Abdullahi Sheikh Abukar, Somali Human Rights Organization, Somalia (remote participation, introduced by Erskine Y. Apiiyah, PRIO and University of Oslo)
Chair and discussant: Morten Bøås, NUPI
12:00-13:00 – Lunch
13:15 – 14:30 – Regulatory Issues and the Law Enforcement Context
Kristin B. Sandvik, University of Oslo and PRIO
Simon Howell, African Policing Civilian Oversight Forum and University of Cape Town, South Africa
Discussant: Anna Andersson, Norwegian Centre for Human Rights
Chair: Jessica Dorsey, University of Amsterdam
Drone Proliferation 31. August
Photo: PRIO
14:45 – 16:00 – The Place of Africa in Security Studies and International Relations
Keynote address: Rita Abrahamsen, Ottawa University
Discussant: Bruno Oliveira Martins, PRIO
Chair: Inga Marie Nymo Riseth, PRIO
Drone Proliferation 31. August 2
Photo: PRIO
