Africa stands at a critical inflection point in its security and defence landscape. With a population exceeding 1.4 billion and a combined GDP of over $3.9 trillion in 2024 (World Bank, 2025), the continent is an increasingly pivotal actor in global stability, regional integration, and strategic security. Yet, Africa faces persistent and evolving threats, including terrorism, insurgency, cyber operations, and transnational organized crime. According to the Global Peace Index 2024, 18 African nations rank among the top 50 most fragile states worldwide, and military expenditures across the continent surpassed $50 billion in 2023 (SIPRI, 2024), underscoring the urgent need for strategic foresight, operational excellence, and collaborative leadership. The Africa Defence & Security Forum & Awards (2025) provides a premier high-level platform where Chiefs of Defence Staff, senior military officials, defence policymakers, and international partners can converge to exchange insights, benchmark best practices, and advance Africa’s security architecture with measurable impact.
Held under the theme “Strengthening Africa’s Security Architecture: Leadership, Readiness, and Strategic Partnership”, the Africa Defence & Security Forum & Awards is a premier three-day gathering that brings together Africa’s top defence and security leaders to shape the continent’s security architecture, advance strategic capabilities, foster high-level collaboration, and strengthen command effectiveness, providing participants with actionable strategies, strategic partnerships, and enhanced operational insights to address evolving security threats, achieve measurable impact, drive regional and international cooperation, and position the continent as a decisive actor in global security. It is also a high-level strategic platform to recognize and reward military leaders, defence innovators, and changemakers whose vision and leadership have strengthened peace, security, and operational readiness across Africa.
