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The ASSN was created out of a recognition of the need to harmonise the various African organisations carrying out activities in the general area of security sector reform/transformation/governance (SSR/SST/SSG). Although there are a few organisations that work specifically in this area many operate within directly related fields, increasing the probability of effort duplication on the same matters and the relegation of other important strands of work. Also, by bringing these organisations together under an African network of networks they will be able to identify core member competencies, within a complementary and inclusive process framework. By avoiding overlap in core competencies individual organisations can be strengthened to bring added value to the overall network with the intention of contributing to the peace and security agendas of the continent.
These ideas, which had already been developing
amongst a group of African scholars and practitioners with an
interest in SSR, were expressed in an embryonic form by the African
delegates to the Conference “SSR: Moving the Agenda Forward”, held
in London in March 2003. They were further developed by the Advisory
Board of the Global Facilitation Network for Security Sector Reform
(GFN-SSR), who recommended that such an African network be created
under the facilitation of the latter organisation.
In light
of this recommendation the GFN-SSR facilitated the Mozambique
Security Network Symposium (July 2003), which advanced the
discussion in terms of identifying the existing formal and informal
networks and the role that Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) can
play in influencing the SSR agenda in Africa. The meeting produced a
declaration that served as a starting point for the elaboration of
an agenda for the network and established the need for a small
‘secretariat’ to implement it.