10-11 February 2017 – the 8th International Forum on security "Marrakech Security Forum"

On 10-11 February 2017, Dr. Sergey Kostelyanets, Senior Researcher at the Centre for North African and African Horn Studies, participated in the 8th International Forum on security "Marrakech Security Forum" (Marrakech, Morocco), where he made a presentation on "Foreign military presence in the Sahara/Sahel region in the context of the war on terror". This year the title of the forum, organized by the Moroccan Center for Strategic Research in partnership with the African Federation for Strategic Studies, was "Strategy Issues and New Terrorist Asylums". Nearly 200 delegates included high-ranking officials and military officers from African, European and Arab countries, representatives of the UN, the European Union, the Council of Europe, Interpol, Africom, experts from the world's leading scientific and analytical centers dealing with security and counter-terrorism. Although the main focus of the forum was on countering the spread of the terrorist threat and discussing new terrorist tactics, several plenary sessions were devoted to conflict-generating climate change in Africa and excessive transparency of African borders.