CÔTE D'IVOIRE

As part of its security policy commitment in West Africa, German foreign policy has focused for many years on Mali and its neighbouring countries, also known as the Sahel Region, whose stability is directly relevant to peace and security in this country on account of its close proximity to Europe. Nevertheless, we need to broaden our geographical horizons, since Jihadism, ethnic conflicts and organised crime are becoming more widespread throughout West Africa. This poses a threat to political and economic stability among the southern neighbours of the Sahel countries in particular, such as Côte d’Ivoire. Côte d’Ivoire is an important partner for Germany in the area of trade and development policy cooperation in West Africa. One area where this finds expression is in the Reform Partnership which Germany has maintained with the country since 2017.

Like other coastal nations on the Gulf of Guinea, Côte d’Ivoire is particularly affected by the destabilising processes emanating from the Sahel. It faces threats not only within its land borders, but also along its maritime border in the Gulf of Guinea, which is a new hot-spot for piracy in Africa and, considering its major strategic importance, must also be viewed from Europe’s perspective as a focal point for developments of a threatening nature.

Intensified security collaboration between the coastal nations on the Gulf of Guinea and Germany could expand on practical approaches already in place and take them further, particularly in the area of prevention. Côte d’Ivoire offers an example of how a serious counterweight to security policy challenges can be encouraged in order to help stabilise the situation throughout West Africa.

In Côte d’Ivoire, Germany has an excellent reputation for supporting the country in its stabilisation and reconstruction process. President Ouattara participated in the G20 Africa Partnership Conference in 2017, a German initiative, and also the Compact with Africa conferences in 2018 and 2019. The focus of cooperation is currently on the expansion of economic relations. The two countries are therefore concentrating their joint activities on the areas of energy, nature and the economy, good governance, encouraging employment, private sector development, and commodity governance. Complementing this bilateral cooperation arrangement is participation by Germany in EU-sponsored projects in Côte d’Ivoire. Against this background we can rate the country’s willingness as high, including its readiness to work together in the security sector with assistance from German initiatives (and those at a multilateral level) to consolidate and also establish legitimate and viable state structures.

Even if the country’s security policy situation has improved overall since 2011, when President Ouattara took office and the domestic political situation stabilised as a result, there is still a strong need for reforms in Côte d’Ivoire to ensure a continued improvement in stability and readiness to participate in the security sector. That applies in particular to its ability to act in view of the growing security policy challenges in the north of the country. Currently, however, there is no ongoing cooperation in the security area, either at a bilateral or an EU level, that is tailored to the partner country’s needs while taking relevant socio-economic factors into account and working toward the assumption of responsibility for its own security. On behalf of Germany’s Foreign Ministry, only the German Society for International Cooperation (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit, GIZ) currently has in place a multinational project to support the border programme by the African Union, which includes border governance by Côte d’Ivoire. In addition, since 2019 the GIZ has been implementing a programme to build up and bolster police structures, which will run until 2022. This is sponsoring the integration of forensics into the criminal justice system, for example, and advising the Ivorian police on domestic control measures based on principles of the rule of law. Among German political foundations in the country, the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung promotes training for future military executive officers via a cooperative arrangement with the Ivorian General Staff Academy and the École de Guerre.

Côte d’Ivoire is well aware of the threat posed by international security policy challenges and has begun to respond accordingly. The number of border and army posts and patrols focused on Mali and Burkina Faso has been substantially increased, with an emphasis on reconnaissance. Initiatives have also been seized to include the civilian population in the security sector to a greater extent and to improve relations between them and the security forces. But given the extent of the threat, these measures have proven insufficient to date. This is partly attributable to shortcomings in training and equipment for the security forces, and also to a deep-seated mistrust of the security forces on the part of the local population, which hinders effective work, especially in the area of prevention. In this context there are therefore many potential starting points for greater security policy cooperation between Côte d‘Ivoire and Germany: assistance with the provision of equipment, for example; professional development for security forces; or programmes to improve communication and cooperation between the relevant forces.

In principle, German foreign and security policy cooperation needs to be expanded from the Sahel further into the countries on the Gulf of Guinea. One option in this connection would be to include Côte d’Ivoire in the German government’s programme of empowerment initiatives. That would provide military and civilian (security) forces with support in the areas of consulting, training and education, in order to perform their tasks more effectively. In the area of economic cooperation, too, Germany could provide targeted support for Côte d‘Ivoire in creating economic prospects for the population in the border regions in order to remove a breeding ground for Jihadism and organised crime. Bolstering the country’s own responsibility at a local and regional level should draw on a networked security approach that takes the necessary socio-economic factors into account, and therefore achieve a lasting effect in stabilising the security sector.

Dr Susanne Conrad is policy advisor for “Rule of Law and Security in Sub-Saharan Africa” at the Department of European and International Cooperation.

Anna Lena Sabroso-Wasserfall is policy advisor for “West Africa and Digital Formats Sub-Saharan Africa” at the Department of European and International Cooperation.