Cyber Diplomacy workshop at the African Union

Event summary

The workshop was opened by Director of Governance and Conflict Prevention at the AU, Patience Zanelie Chiradza, and Deputy Director of the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany to Ethiopia, Dr Ferdinand Von Weyhe. Both emphasised the importance of African participation in global digital diplomacy and the need to equip African diplomats to participate effectively in ongoing and emerging digital policy discussions.

During the two-day workshop, Prof. Jovan Kurbalija and Sorina Teleanu joined remotely to cover cyber governance, the use of AI to support diplomacy, and global policy issues raised by emerging technologies. In-person facilitators included Moctar Yedaly, Vladimir Radunovic, Prof. Nnenna Ifeanyi-Ajufo, and Dr Katherine Getao, who covered cybersecurity, African perspectives and processes in cyber issues, and legal instruments. The diplomats were given a taste of negotiating cyber issues using a scenario exercise about a regional cyber incident that affected critical national ICT systems. 

Upon completing the workshop, participating diplomats reported a better understanding of the meaning and practice of cyber diplomacy.However, they also noted that, due to the complexity of some of the issues and concepts, there is a need for continuous capacity-building activities and they hoped that more of their colleagues from other African countries could access the training.