African spy chiefs deliberate on security matters
Sharon Mathala | Friday February 3, 2023 13:50
Magosi was speaking after assuming the chairmanship of the Committee of Intelligence and Security Services of Africa (CISSA) yesterday. The 18th session of the CISSA Conference was officially opened on Thursday by President Mokgweetsi Masisi at the Gaborone International Convention Centre, to a room full of top spies around the country.
He confirmed that there is intelligence sharing amongst member states. In particular, Magosi disclosed that intel as far back as 2019 picked intelligence on insurgency into Mozambique.
Magosi further stated that because of intelligence they were able to advice heads of states on what action to take, including that of Botswana lending assistance to Mozambique. “Our job is to look at the challenges we have in Africa and come up with solution or recommendations to our leaders in Africa. We look at the challenges broadly. Such could be political, military, socio economic and financial. We look at all those elements of national power for each country,” Magosi said. Howeve, he said that challenges that are experienced by SADC countries may be different from those in the West Africa hence the need for the conference for intelligence community to gather under one roof and discuss and share ideas.
The conference is a top secret but the media was allowed to cover the first 30 minutes of the session, and later barred from taking any pictures. This is so because all the 54 members states had sent down their top spies to Gaborone to deliberate under the theme ‘Food Security, Conflict and Peace in Africa’.
Speaking at the event, President Masisi reiterated 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,” Masisi said.
Masisi further stated that the theme of this year’s conference is especially relevant because “some conflicts in Africa emanate from food insecurity.” Whilst the President was not specific which conflict he was referring to in particular, he further stated that 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,” he highlighted.
For her part, Ambassador Zainab Ali Kotoko, CISSA Executive Secretary, said that the theme of the conference covered ‘a very pertinent and topical issue.” “We have not had this conference for almost three years as a result of COVID-19. This is the first conference post COVID-19. Ours is to communicate all threats to the member services. We brief the peace and security of the AU on major threats to the continent, and this conference is to do exactly that to identify the threat and advice,” she said. Meanwhile Mmegi had attempted to interview intelligence heads from Mozambique, South Africa and Magosi himself but they all turned down interviews.