The 10th edition of the Dakar Forum took place on 20 and 21 April 2026, focusing on the theme “Africa facing the challenges of stability, integration and sovereignty”. Organised by the Centre for Advanced Defence and Security Studies (CHEDS) in Dakar, the event brought together over 700 participants from around 60 countries and featured a high-level panel, two plenary sessions, and six thematic workshops.
The Forum culminated in the adoption of a major initiative, the “Dakar Doctrine” on conflict prevention, and highlighted the idea that peace processes in Africa must be designed and driven from within, without exclusive reliance on external support.
The Forum opened on Monday 20 April at CICAD (Diamniadio), under the chairmanship of President Bassirou Diomaye Faye, in the presence of Julius Maada Bio (Sierra Leone, current Chair of ECOWAS), Mohamed Ould Cheikh El Ghazouani (Mauritania), and Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko.
At this stage, the detailed recommendations for each workshop have not been published; they will appear in the official proceedings of the CHEDS.
A flagship initiative proposed by the President Bassirou Diomaye Faye and outlined in the final recommendations, the Dakar Doctrine seeks to replace the emergency intervention approach that characterized the Barkhane decade with a more proactive strategy. It is built around three core principles:
1. Addressing root causes, including insecurity, exclusion, and the breakdown of the social contract;
2. Operationalizing African standby forces with stable, African-controlled funding;
3. Promoting economic sovereignty through local resource processing and the AfCFTA.
