President Bola Tinubu on Monday rejected the growing reliance on private military and security contractors in conflict zones in Africa, warning that their involvement undermines sovereignty and complicates counter-terrorism operations across the continent.
Speaking during the first plenary session on ’Peace, Security, Governance and Multilateralism’ at the 7th African Union–European Union Summit in Luanda, Angola, Tinubu said peace efforts must be led and owned by African governments rather than outsourced to private actors with opaque mandates.
President Tinubu, represented by Vice President Kashim Shettima, argued that Africa’s security challenges, from terrorism to transnational organised crime, require coordinated state-driven responses, not parallel forces that weaken command structures.