Africa Must Assert Technological Sovereignty in Defence, General Buratai Tells International Security Conference
Former Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Tukur Yusufu Buratai (Rtd), CFR, has called for a fundamental strategic rethink of Africa’s defence architecture, warning that the rapid development of artificial intelligence and autonomous systems is changing the character of warfare faster than many African institutions are prepared to respond.
Buratai made the call during a high-level panel discussion at the International Security Conference on Africa (ISCA) in Kigali, Rwanda, where defence experts, policymakers and security stakeholders examined the implications of emerging technologies for Africa’s security future.
The former Army Chief argued that Africa must move beyond being a passive consumer of technologies developed in other parts of the world and build the capacity to develop, adapt, maintain and regulate technologies suited to the continent’s unique security environment.
According to him, the debate around autonomous systems should not be confined to their technical or battlefield applications, but must also address their wider political, policy and geostrategic implications for African states.
He stressed that technologies developed for environments with different infrastructure, operational conditions and security realities cannot simply be transferred to Africa without appropriate adaptation, testing and local expertise.
Africa Must Shape Its Own Technology
A major theme of Buratai’s intervention was the need for African countries to pursue technological sovereignty in defence and security.
He called for stronger collaboration among African governments, defence institutions, universities, researchers, technology companies and other stakeholders to develop indigenous capacity in emerging technologies.
The retired general warned against a situation in which Africa becomes merely a market for technologies developed elsewhere while having little influence over the standards, regulations and strategic decisions governing their deployment.
He maintained that African countries must have a voice in determining the rules, ethical boundaries and strategic applications of artificial intelligence and autonomous systems.
For Buratai, technological sovereignty does not mean isolation from the global technology ecosystem. Rather, it requires Africa to possess sufficient knowledge and capacity to understand, adapt and contribute to the technologies shaping its security environment.
Understanding the Different Levels of Autonomy
Buratai also highlighted the importance of understanding the different levels of autonomy as artificial intelligence becomes increasingly integrated into military systems.
He distinguished between remotely controlled systems, supervised autonomous systems and fully autonomous, end-to-end systems.
In supervised systems, he explained, machines may undertake certain functions or make recommendations while a human operator retains ultimate authority over critical decisions.
The distinction, he noted, is important because the increasing sophistication of autonomous systems raises fundamental questions about human control, responsibility, accountability and the circumstances under which machines should be permitted to make or execute decisions.
The discussion therefore underscored the importance of ensuring that technological advancement does not remove appropriate human responsibility from critical security decisions.
Buratai: Africa’s Defence Institutions Must Recalibrate
Beyond technology itself, Buratai raised concerns about the readiness of African defence and security institutions to cope with the speed at which modern warfare is evolving.
He pointed to the Russia-Ukraine war as a laboratory offering important lessons about the future of conflict, particularly the increasing role of artificial intelligence, autonomous platforms, surveillance systems, battlefield networks and rapid information processing.
According to him, the speed of technological and operational change requires African defence institutions to reassess how they are structured, led and prepared for future conflicts.
He advocated greater institutional agility, innovation and adaptability, warning that traditional defence structures and slow decision-making processes may struggle to remain effective in an increasingly technology-driven security environment.
The former Army Chief stressed that leadership must also evolve, with defence institutions creating room for innovation and rapid adaptation as new technologies transform the battlefield.
AI Is Changing the Character of Warfare
The ISCA discussion highlighted that autonomous systems and artificial intelligence are no longer merely concepts for future warfare.
They are already influencing military planning, intelligence gathering, surveillance, logistics, decision-making and battlefield operations.
For Africa, Buratai argued, the challenge is to anticipate these changes rather than wait until the continent is forced to react to them.
He called for increased investment in research and development, technical education, military innovation and partnerships between defence institutions and African technology ecosystems.
Such investments, he argued, would help create a new generation of African experts capable of developing and managing sophisticated security technologies while reducing excessive dependence on external suppliers.
From Technology Acquisition to Technology Ownership
Buratai’s intervention effectively shifted the conversation from whether African countries can acquire advanced military technologies to whether they can eventually understand, adapt, develop and regulate them.
He maintained that purchasing sophisticated equipment alone does not amount to technological capability.
True strategic capacity, according to the former Army Chief, requires the human expertise, institutions, infrastructure and research ecosystem necessary to operate and sustain those technologies independently.
This, he suggested, should become an important component of Africa’s long-term defence planning.
Africa Must Be Proactive, Not Reactive
The former Army Chief’s position comes against the backdrop of increasingly complex security threats confronting the continent, including terrorism, insurgency, organised crime, cyber threats and the growing use of sophisticated technologies by both state and non-state actors.
He argued that Africa’s security response must evolve alongside these threats.
Rather than simply adopting technologies and standards developed elsewhere, African states should actively participate in their development and international regulation.
This, he said, would give the continent greater strategic independence and ensure that emerging technologies are deployed in ways that reflect African security realities and interests.
A New Security Imperative
The ISCA discussion ultimately underscored the growing intersection between technology, military power and national security.
For Africa, the emerging challenge is therefore not simply how to use artificial intelligence and autonomous systems, but how to build the institutional and technological capacity required to shape their future.
Buratai’s intervention placed technological sovereignty, institutional reform and strategic preparedness at the heart of that conversation.
His message was clear: Africa cannot afford to wait until autonomous warfare becomes the dominant reality before preparing for it.
The continent must anticipate the transformation, understand the technology, reform its institutions and invest in the people and systems required to navigate the next generation of warfare.
At the Kigali conference, Buratai effectively challenged African policymakers to confront a fundamental question: Is Africa’s defence architecture ready for the rapidly changing world of modern warfare?
His answer was a call for action, greater innovation, stronger institutions, indigenous technological capacity and a more assertive African role in shaping the future of global security.
