SPEECH BY HIS EXCELLENCY DR. MOKGWEETSI E.K. MASISI PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF BOTSWANA ON THE OCCASION OF THE 18TH ORDINARY SESSION OF THE COMMITTEE OF INTELLIGENCE AND SECURITY SERVICES OF AFRICA (CISSA)

SPEECH BY HIS EXCELLENCY DR. MOKGWEETSI E.K. MASISI PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF BOTSWANA ON THE OCCASION OF THE 18TH ORDINARY SESSION OF THE COMMITTEE OF INTELLIGENCE AND SECURITY SERVICES OF AFRICA (CISSA) CONFERENCE HELD UNDER THE THEME: “FOOD SECURITY, CONFLICT AND PEACE IN AFRICA” – 2 FEBRUARY 2023, GABORONE

It is with great honour that I welcome you all to Gaborone, Botswana, for the 18th Ordinary Session of the Committee of Intelligence and Security Services of Africa (CISSA) Conference, under the theme “Food Security, Conflict and Peace in Africa”.

On behalf of the people of the Republic of Botswana, let me start by appreciating CISSA Member Services and the CISSA Secretariat to have accorded Botswana an opportunity to host the 18th Ordinary Session of the CISSA Conference. I hope that you will enjoy your stay in Gaborone, though I wish I could have hosted you in one of the tourist areas in Botswana for you to appreciate the beauty that our “Motherland” holds.

I also extend my appreciation to the Directorate of Intelligence and Security (DIS) and its Director General, Brigadier (Rtd) Peter MAGOSI for accepting to host this Conference. When Director General Magosi requested authorisation to host this conference I gave him my full support. I wish to attest that, hosting a conference of this magnitude fulfils one of my agenda priorities of making Botswana an internationally renowned centre for Meetings, Incentives tourism, Conferences and Events (MICE).

Furthermore, hosting this Conference will also assist in strengthening Botswana’s Directorate of Intelligence and Security’s regional, continental and global relations, and thereby position it to contribute its ideas, insights and experience in ensuring security across the world. To this end, I am confident that Director General Magosi will during his tenure as CISSA Chairperson, represent us well in promoting the interests of greater Africa.

I believe that, all of us gathered here, individually, collectively, and as professional and skilled agents within the intelligence and security establishments, do share, without any doubt, certain basic and crucial understandings of social life that I want to outline.

Such basic understandings of the essence of our human social existence include the following, among others:

(i) the imperative and challenges to survive through expending our labour power on our habitats, and thus produce the necessities of life such as food, shelter and clothing, in networks of production relations;

(ii) the imperative and challenges to have equitable access to opportunities that enable us to live in dignity and enjoy life to the fullest without being subjected to a state of siege that our lives may be in danger, not only from lack of enough, nutritious food, but also from terrorism, insurgencies and wars;

(iii) the imperative to relate with others in a manner that enables us to live in tranquillity and peaceful co-existence, within our families, communities, the wider societies, and as members of the international community;

(iv) and, finally, that human beings are rule-following beings, and it matters to be concerned with what the contents of such rules, norms, values, policies, are and their effects on people’s lives.

Yet, ironically, many a times human beings have exhibited very unsettling tendencies and investment of energies geared at annihilating one another in the course of pursuing and negotiating the struggles and challenges for survival. This has caused untold suffering, strife, mayhem and carnage that negate the benefits of the basic understandings of social life that I have earlier referred to.

In short, when the culture of violence subverts the normative foundations of mutual understanding, peaceful co-existence, safety and security, then social life becomes the theatre and stage of misery and death, instead of progressive social development and the enlargement of our capabilities and creativity for leading the good life. Clearly, humanity cannot be sustained by the laws of the jungle. This is the wisdom anchoring the principles and values of the United Nations’ Charter.

Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, we owe it to ourselves to do better. And this is the huge task and burden that we expect the conferences of the Committee of Intelligence and Security Services for Africa, like this 18th Ordinary Session, to execute through the sharing of distilled information, strategies and advice on the imperatives and solutions for Africa’s safety and security that they provide to the political leadership and policy-makers.

Indeed, the continual meetings and deliberations of the CISSA leadership and Member Services demonstrate your commitment and dedication in ensuring the protection of Africa, her citizens and her public institutions.

Botswana is hosting and assumes the Chairpersonship of CISSA during a period when the continent is challenged by emerging security threats. Amongst these threats are food insecurity, terrorism, poaching, corruption, drugs trafficking, human trafficking and smuggling, cybercrime as well as the spread of contagious diseases.

I am informed that it is your duty to ensure our safety, security, liberties and stability through emphasising the cohesiveness of the African continent and regional collaborations, and sharing timely, precise intelligence aimed at detecting, preventing, and mitigating the above enumerated vices.

Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, it is also my understanding that CISSA’s existence was borne out of the will to coordinate and share intelligence, consistent with the African Union’s vision for an integrated, prosperous, and peaceful continent. This is due to the fact that no country can be presumed safe and secure when its neighbours are not safe and secure. It is on this premise that I implore all security agencies to nurture collaboration and enhance information sharing to ensure Africa’s and global security.

Accordingly, given your mandate to protect life, and to build and sustain stability and tranquillity within, between and among nations, the theme of “Food Security, Conflict and Peace in Africa”, that has been chosen for this 18th Session of the CISSA Conference, is very relevant because some conflicts in Africa emanate from food insecurity.

This theme is also relevant to Botswana as it speaks to our Vision 2036, which is anchored on four pillars: being Sustainable Economic Development; Human and Social Development; Sustainable Environment; and Governance, Peace and Security. I wish to invite you to have a critical engagement with it as you discharge your mandate from your vantage points.

According to the 2022 Global Report on Food Crises (GRFC), 193 Million people across fifty-three (53) countries were in acute need of food and required urgent assistance by the end of 2021. The dire situation of food insufficiency was mainly due to conflicts, economic shocks (some associated with the effects of COVID-19) and climate change. This challenge was more prevalent among women than men globally.

Furthermore, the World Food Programme (WFP) has reported that as many as 828 million people go to bed hungry every night. WFP further pointed out that 60 per cent of the world’s hungry people live in areas of conflict. In this regard, conflicts disrupt food production and trading of agricultural produce. Conflict also indirectly induces hunger and starvation due to limited distribution of humanitarian assistance.

According to World Bank, rising inflation in 2022 has drastically affected food security, as domestic food prices remain high. Reportedly, the period between July and October 2022 showed high inflation among all low-income countries at 84.2% and middle-income countries at 93%. This situation of food insecurity has been exacerbated by the ongoing Russia/ Ukraine conflict, as these two countries are the main producers of staple cereal, fertilisers, and gas.

The World Trade Organisation (WTO) and Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) have also forecasted that fertiliser shortages will continue into 2023, and this will limit agricultural production, and negatively impact import-dependent countries, many of which are in Africa. The aforementioned organisations further warn that acute food insecurity is likely to deteriorate in nineteen (19) countries during the outlook period from October 2022 to January 2023.

However, food insecurity is not only caused by organised violence and conflict, it is also due to economic shocks arising from energy and fuel crises, weather extremes and climate variability that are evidenced by severe droughts and heavy precipitation that results in devastating floods.

In spite of this tall order of harrowing experiences for humanity, not all is doom and gloom. We have to, and can, redeem ourselves through a re-consideration of our development and food systems approaches.
Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, it is worth noting that through harnessing the opportunities in the digital economy, Member States and all humanity can build pathways to peace, by helping people respond to and recover from conflict-related to food insecurity while strengthening social cohesion, and self-reliance.

In this regard, identifying existing or potential conflict-related food security crises in Africa is a key issue for consideration to the Peace and Security Council (PSC) of the African Union (AU) and the African Union Commission. These will enhance plans to establish the African Humanitarian Agency (AfHA) to realise the African Union’s vision of “creating an integrated, prosperous and peaceful continent driven by its citizens”.

Let me take this opportunity to appreciate that the 35th ordinary session of the AU Assembly had endorsed the year 2022 as the year of food security and nutrition under the theme “Strengthening Resilience in Nutrition and Food Security on The African Continent: Strengthening Agro-Food Systems, Health and Social Protection Systems for the Acceleration of Human, Social and Economic Capital Development”.
Accordingly, I expect that the issues discussed by this CISSA Conference will resonate in a transformative way with the multiple dimensions of AU Assembly’s theme. The quality of the deliberations should inspire optimism where the peace dividend attained through your concerted efforts in policy advice and operations, will create conditions strengthening resilience in food production, nutrition and food security; for improving health systems, and accelerating the totality of human, social and economic capital development.

Once again, Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, I wish to underscore the fact that while Botswana’s security situation remains peaceful, the country, like other African countries, is challenged by food security. In October 2022, the country held its National Agricultural Show under the theme “Enabling Food Security Through Profitable Farming Practices”. This followed a series of assessments and programmes aimed at improving food availability in Botswana. These include, but are not limited, to Livestock Management and Infrastructure Development (LIMID), Young Farmers Fund and Youth Development Fund as well as subsidies on livestock feeds.

Lately, we introduced a redesigned scheme called the Integrated Support for Arable Agricultural Development (ISPAAD) Impact Accelerated Support Grant. All of these initiatives are aimed at assisting local farmers to produce enough agricultural products to feed Botswana and use some for export.

Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, as I have highlighted earlier on, various studies have indicated that food provision is a source of a significant number of conflicts in Africa. To this end, it remains a concern that food insecurity threatens progress towards the attainment of Sustainable Development Goal 2 (SDG2), which aims to create a world free of hunger and malnutrition by 2030. Therefore, finding a solution to food insecurity is imperative as it is a pathway to resolving a number of high intensity conflicts.

Additionally, as Africa we need to take advantage of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) compacts that are focused on enhancing intra-regional and African trade and investments through trade liberalisation and enhanced regulatory harmonisation and coordination. Furthermore, we should utilise its policy priorities of promoting industrial development through diversification and regional value chain development, agricultural development and food security.

On another note, the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Council has agreed on the Regional Agricultural Policy (RAP) that provides a predominant policy framework for the Region’s agricultural sector. One of the Regional Agriculture Policy’s aim is to enhance sustainable agricultural production, productivity and competitiveness with the intention to attain regional food self-sufficiency in basic strategic commodities, and to increase incomes, reduce hunger and poverty in the short term.

I wish to urge CISSA Members to use these available trade relations and available frameworks, either globally, continentally, or regionally so as to stand in unity in addressing food security in Africa.

In conclusion, Directors General/Heads of Service, Ladies and Gentlemen, I wish to reassure you of Botswana’s commitment to ensuring the success of this Conference. We also appreciate the support and cooperation that will be rendered to Botswana, during our term at the helm of CISSA.

I also wish you successful deliberations on policies and strategies for attaining Africa’s food security; for ending the cycles of violence and conflict; and for securing long lasting peace that we yearn for. It is now my special honour to declare the 18th Session of the CISSA Conference officially open.

Long live Africa, long live! PULA!