NAIROBI -President William Ruto has urged African nations to deepen military cooperation, warning that the continent’s growing security challenges demand a united front and not isolated efforts.
Speaking to defence chiefs from 38 African countries at a high-level conference in Nairobi on Wednesday, Ruto made a strong pitch for pan-African collaboration. “When one country or region falters,” he said, “the impact ripples across borders, affecting livelihoods, economies and the promise of development.”
“True security in Africa,” he added, “must be continental in ambition and collaborative in execution.”
The annual African Chiefs of Defence Conference, co-hosted this year by Kenya and the United States, is taking place on African soil for only the second time. The theme Strengthening African Security, Sustaining Unity of Effort underscores what many see as an urgent need for collective responses to shared threats.
Among the delegates were Kenya’s Defence Cabinet Secretary Soipan Tuya, Chief of Defence Forces General Charles Kahariri, U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) head General Michael Langley, and Senegal’s Minister of Armed Forces, General Birame Diop.
The presence of senior military and diplomatic figures from both Africa and the West reflects the geopolitical weight the continent now carries in global security discussions.
Regional Problems, Continental Stakes
President Ruto stressed that Africa’s challenges from terrorism and organised crime to political instability and climate-linked conflicts cannot be tackled in isolation. He described security as “interlinked,” arguing that no country can remain untouched by its neighbours’ unrest.
“For Africa to thrive,” he said, “we must deepen our investment in unity not just as a diplomatic ideal, but as a practical strategy for resilience.”
Kenya, he said, remains firmly committed to efforts that promote peace and stability, particularly in the Horn of Africa and the wider East African region.
Ruto’s comments follow similar calls from U.S. General Michael Langley earlier this week, who noted that threats facing the continent from localised conflicts to global terrorism are growing more complex and harder to predict.
Both leaders have framed this year’s forum as a turning point a chance to move from words to coordinated action, through training, joint operations, and shared intelligence.
A Shifting Security Landscape
In recent years, Africa’s security environment has shifted rapidly. From the ongoing conflict in Sudan to the rise of extremist groups in the Sahel and the Democratic Republic of Congo’s persistent instability, threats are becoming more diffuse and less tied to national borders.
Western powers, including the United States, have increasingly framed African security as a key pillar of global peace a position reinforced by AFRICOM’s growing engagement on the continent.
General Langley, speaking at the same event, said African militaries are “bearing the brunt” of these challenges, and that no single country should be left to shoulder them alone.
Observers say the conference and the rare presence of so many military heads in one room offers a unique opportunity to lay the groundwork for new defence compacts, especially as global attention remains fixated on conflicts elsewhere.
As the summit wraps up, President Ruto’s message to his peers was clear: African unity isn’t just an aspiration it may well be the continent’s best defence.
“Peace,” he said, “is not the absence of war. It is the presence of cooperation, foresight, and mutual respect. That begins with us.”
