The National Security Coordinator and Head of the Office of National Security (ONS) has returned early this week from a colloquium held in Accra, Ghana, on the 12th -14th November 2009 to discus concerns raised about Africa’s electoral processes as triggers to conflict on the continent.

Brigadier Kellie Conteh was among senior military and civilian officials from around Africa; representative from the AU and other regional bodies, Africa media experts and NNGO representatives to respond to this concern. The ONS Boss as a security expert was invited by the organizers namely: the Africa Center for Strategic Studies, the International Foundation for Election Systems, Open Society for West Africa, the Netherlands Institute for Multiparty Democracy and the UNDP, to share on Sierra Leone’s experiences in conducting free, fair and non violent elections.

Sierra Leone’s case was particularly of importance to the organizers giving that the country was able to hold a high-profiled election without outside support in terms of providing security for the processes.

In recent times, violence characterized elections in Kenya, Zimbabwe and Nigeria and these have raised concerns that Africa’s electoral processes are triggers to conflict on the continent, a perception which seems to threaten the overarching US Government’s policy priority of advancing democracy in Africa as a means of fostering security on the continent. The three-day conference used Ghana’s recent successful elections as benchmark for the experts’ differing dimensions. The experts looked at the effectiveness and professionalism of security services, the roles of election administrators, political parties, candidate debates, the media and international and domestic electoral observers.

The ONS Boss outlined Sierra Leone’s democratic elections credentials with vivid narratives on the role of especially the security sector in ensuring that the high-profiled 2007 Presidential and Parliamentary elections were held in a peaceful atmosphere. He emphasized the need for neutrality of the security services, noting that under the coordinating role of the ONS the country’s security services were able to demonstrate maximum level of neutrality and independence.

He also recounted the role his office played in ensuring that political parties and their leaders commit themselves to ensuring a peaceful outcome of the 2007 elections by holding frank and open-minded national security conferences during the elections processes.

The National Security Coordinator proudly singled out Sierra Leone as the first post conflict country in Africa to have series of elections ranging from the election of Paramount Chiefs, to local council elections on to the presidential and parliamentary elections in 2007 with no aftermath outbreak of violence.

Through the conference discussion however, participants were able to identify lessons that could mitigate violence surrounding upcoming elections in Africa as a way of strengthening their legitimacies.