This is the 36th post in a blog series to be published in 2021 by the Secretariat on behalf of the AU High-Level Panel on Emerging Technologies (APET) and the Calestous Juma Executive Dialogues (CJED)

African Union (AU) has formulated several policy measures towards strengthening border management systems and ensuring peace and stability for the African continent. For example, the Cairo Declaration sought to maintain the borders inherited from colonialism to safeguard unity through cooperation and integration.[1] On the other hand, the AU Border Programme (AUPB) has several pillars that address the development of African countries’ capabilities towards border governance, conflict prevention and resolution, border security and transnational threats.[2] The AUPB is also focusing on Africa’s mobility, migration and trade facilitation, cooperative border management, and borderland development, and community engagement.

AU Border Governance Strategy (AUBGS) focuses on cooperation and coordination, capacity building, and community involvement.[3] As such, this border policy encourages collaboration between border management stakeholders. In other words, border control should entail inclusive, interconnected, and free flow of trade and traffic at border crossings. However, this should be executed such that border security is enhanced to minimise crime and smuggling across borders. This calls for the various authorities and agencies involved in border control and customs to engage and address common border security threats cooperatively.

emphasis among the AU policies is focusing on capacity building and strengthening through institutional reforms and acquisition and proper adoption and utilisation of smart technologies. The capacity strengthening entails a continuous training of border control personnel based on the evolving nature of African borders. This is anchored on an inclusive strategy coupled with the active participation of local communities in the administration of the African borders. As such, the AU Convention on Border Cooperation underpins enriching a cooperation and coordination culture by fostering dynamic and self-transforming institutions.[4]

2007, it was reported that less than a quarter of African borders had been delimitated and demarcated.[5] Notably, Africa is the second-largest continent globally with 55 Member States, covering approximately 30.3 million km2. However, it was estimated that there were approximately 350 official border crossing points.[6] The African population is envisaged to increase to approximately 1.6 billion by 2030.[7] Regrettably, some neighbouring countries were found inaccessible by either road, rail, or boat. Further to this, there were only 414 roads that crossed international borders, of which 69 out of those 414 roads had no customs management systems along their entire length.[8]

addition, approximately 20 cross-border railway and ferry routes existed. Most importantly, African borders are dividing more than 177 different ethnic groups. Consequently, this may render some relatives of numerous African families residing on the other side of the borderline. As such, this may contribute to illegal crossings across borderlines. In addition, the African Union reported that intra-African mobility numbers have increased from approximately 13.3 million to 25.4 million migrants between 2008 and 2017.[9] Unfortunately, even though there have been efforts to bridge these border control gaps between African countries, these trends have barely improved in the last decade.[10]

Such border control limitations exacerbate African border insecurity as a glaring threat across the African continent. This means that African borders remain porous, rendering them susceptible to crimes and instability across the continent. Further to this, there have been incremental border disputes extending from the traditional cross-border movement of people. This subsequently limits and destabilises cross-border trade activities. Subsequently, this phenomenon ends up negatively impacting the livelihoods of the African people. Most notably, there exist inadequate institutional capacities among African countries to effectively monitor the movement of people, goods, and services. This is also aggravated by insufficient information and database sharing. This is particularly observed between institutions working on air, oceanic, and land borders. Such loopholes make African countries susceptible to criminal and terrorist activities.

These porous borders enable easier penetration, trafficking, and smuggling of drugs, weapons, and humans. For example, human trafficking remains endemic in Africa as an estimated 9.24 million people across the continent have been trafficked for exploitation purposes.[11] Even though security is paramount in Africa’s border security, several African countries remain unprotected because of the limited investments towards border security management systems.[12],[13] In some cases, some African borders even lack the basic security infrastructure such as fence perimeters around the border demarcation areas. Therefore, these porous African borders should strengthen rapid migration management systems capacity and corruption concerns.[14]

The African Union Panel on Emerging Technologies (APET) encourages African countries to adopt and adapt smart technologies that can adequately address the illegal activities on their borders. This will strengthen border control management systems as well as data sharing between African countries. Additionally, smart technologies can be utilised to easily detect the smuggling of weapons and drugs across borders, reduce human trafficking, and improve the governance of imports and exports goods and services between African countries. Smart border control technologies such as digital technologies empowered by artificial intelligence and blockchain technologies can also increase tax revenue management and strengthen trade between African countries to bolster socio-economic development and growth.[15] In addition, smart digital border technologies can help security officials and agencies have better decision-making support through enhanced database sharing. Such database sharing efforts can also enhance the reliability and efficiency of border control systems.[16] These smart borders can increase not only security but also mobility of goods and services. 

African countries such as Kenya, Ethiopia, Sudan, South Africa, and Tunisia, among others, have adopted drone technology to enhance their monitoring surveillance systems against smuggling illegal firearms and drugs.[17] Such drone technologies coupled with smart digital technological systems can send warning messages to border control officers and encourage information sharing between law enforcement agencies. For example, drone technology is helping Kenya strengthen border governance and prevent potential corruption.[18] These drones are usually deployed into hard-to-reach areas as these areas are the preferred routes for smugglers. [19]

Vehicle monitoring tracking systems are being utilised to prevent the smuggling of illegal goods. For example, smart technologies such as satellite positioning systems (SPSs), cellular communication systems (CCS), radio frequency identification (RFID) technology, and geographical information systems (GIS) are offering secure real-time tracking of vehicles and goods. Consequently, this allows border control authorities to execute timely action against potential smuggling of illegal vehicle crossing and goods.

On the other hand, the automatic vehicle and container recognition system is also gaining traction across the African continent. This system captures the vehicle’s license plate number and container’s code to monitor the goods being transported. Subsequently, this technology transmits this information to the border control officials. It enables them to timely compare their database on any potential infringements previously committed by the carrier in that country. Once the feedback is received, a comprehensive risk assessment for that vehicle and goods being transported is executed to determine the appropriate law enforcement measures. These new technologies are being implemented in addition to the traditional video surveillance systems.

APET believes that these technological systems can increase border-crossing safety, detection and prevention of smuggling of illegal goods. Thus, APET suggests that these captured images can be viewed in real-time using artificial intelligence technologies and stored in digital technologies enabled by blockchain technologies for future use. In this way, this digital technology capability can help African countries better manage their borders against potential crimes. Therefore, African countries should bolster their investment towards smart border control technologies and enabling policy and regulatory frameworks to secure their land borders and eliminate cross-border crime incidents.

The adoption of smart border technologies cannot only improve Africa’s infrastructure but also boost science, technology, innovation (STI) based entrepreneurship within African countries. In addition, adopting such measures can also secure peace and stability across the African continent. Smart technologies can also efficiently connect African capitals and commercial centres through an African High-Speed Train Network. Subsequently, this can facilitate the movement of goods, services, and people. This includes enhancing the development of the continental commodities strategy to integrate into the global value chains seamlessly. Subsequently, such efforts can promote vertical and horizontal diversification anchored in value addition and local content development.

In conclusion, a comprehensive adoption of smart border technologies cannot only accelerate the intra-African trade but also boost Africa’s trading position in the global marketplace through the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). Notably, APET believes that a well-integrated AfCFTA through smart border security systems can significantly accelerate intra-Africa’s trade to bolster economic growth and sustainable development. Smart border control technologies can also improve and strengthen the African passport and free movement of people without compromising border security as per the AU’s Agenda 2063 and Science, Technology, and Innovation Strategy for Africa (STISA-2024) aspirations.

Featured Bloggers – APET Secretariat

Justina Dugbazah

Barbara Glover

Bhekani Mbuli

Chifundo Kungade

 

[1]ASSEMBLY OF HEADS OF STATE AND GOVERNMENT, 29th Ordinary Session, 28th – 30th June 1993, Cairo, Egypt https://au.int/sites/default/files/decisions/9538-1993_ahg_res_218-227_xxix_e.pdf.

[2] https://www.peaceau.org/en/page/85-au-border-programme-aubp.

[3] https://www.peaceau.org/uploads/2018-06-14-aubgs-e.pdf.

[4] https://au.int/en/treaties/african-union-convention-cross-border-cooperation-niamey-convention.

[5] DECLARATION ON THE AFRICAN UNION BORDER PROGRAMME AND ITS IMPLEMENTATION MODALITIES AS ADOPTED BY THE CONFERENCE OF AFRICAN MINISTERS IN CHARGE OF BORDER ISSUES HELD IN ADDIS ABABA (ETHIOPIA), ON 7 JUNE 2007. https://www.peaceau.org/uploads/border-issues.pdf.

[6] https://enactafrica.org/enact-observer/ten-years-of-au-border-programme.

[7] https://www.afdb.org/fileadmin/uploads/afdb/Documents/Policy-Documents/FINAL%20Briefing%20Note%204%20Africas%20Demographic%20Trends.pdf.

[8] https://unctad.org/system/files/official-document/rmt2019_en.pdf.

[9] https://atalayar.com/en/content/borders-africa.

[10] https://publications.iom.int/system/files/pdf/africa-migration-report.pdf.

[11] http://asec-sldi.org/news/current/human-trafficking-sub-saharan-africa/.

[12] https://theconversation.com/southern-africas-porous-borders-pose-a-problem-for-containing-the-coronavirus-135386.

[13] https://doc-research.org/2019/01/links-illegal-migration-organised-crime/.

[14] https://www.unodc.org/westandcentralafrica/en/2020-11-27-global-study-on-firearms-trafficking.html.

[15] THE DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION STRATEGY FOR AFRICA (2020-2030). https://au.int/sites/default/files/documents/38507-doc-dts-english.pdf.

[16] Smart boarders: Increasing security without sacrificing mobility. https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/ru/Documents/public-sector/smart-borders.pdf.

[17] https://globalinitiative.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/After_the_storm_GI-TOC.pdf.

[18] P. Kameri-Mbote, M. Muriungi, Potential contribution of drones to reliability of Kenya's land information system, The African Journal of Information and Communication, 20,2017, http://dx.doi.org/10.23962/10539/23500.

[19] https://secgovcentre.org/2013/05/kenya-drones-to-spy-on-arms-smugglers/.