Building an African Law of Collective Security: The Association of Historians of Senegal examines the challenges

“Building an African Law of Collective Security: Between Colonial Legacies and Pan-African Innovations” was the theme of the conference organized by the Association of Historians of Senegal (AHS) on Wednesday, June 17, at Cheikh Anta Diop University of Dakar (UCAD). Initiated as part of the celebration of Africa Day, this academic meeting provided a forum for reflection on contemporary challenges to collective security in Africa, through a historical, legal, and pan-African lens.

In this context, the conference, which was led by Mamadou Badji, professor of exceptional class at UCAD and moderated by Professor Ameth Ndiaye, head of the Department of Public Law at UCAD, analyzed the genesis and deployment of African collective security law, placing it at the intersection of three fields, namely public international law, the political history of the African continent and the theory of regional organizations.

Through a two-part analysis, she first demonstrated how the security architectures inherited from colonization, based on state fragmentation, the principle of uti possidetis juris, and the tutelage of external powers, constituted structural obstacles to the emergence of a truly African security sovereignty. She then showed how, since the Constitutive Act of the African Union (2000) and the establishment of the African Peace and Security Architecture (APSA), the continent has progressively built an original normative framework, articulating the right to humanitarian intervention, early warning mechanisms, and the responsibility to protect.

This dual dynamic of deconstructing legacies and constructing new norms sheds light on the persistent tensions between state sovereignty and continental solidarity, between operational efficiency and democratic legitimacy.