Publication site : SciELO
Author : João Paulo Madeira
Date of publication : 2019
Type of publication : Article
Cape Verde: From security issues to development strategies
Discovered between 1460 and 1462 by navigators serving the Portuguese crown, Cape Verde is in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean between Africa, Europe and the Americas. Being a small island state, consisting of ten islands and several islets of volcanic origin, the archipelago has a reduced geographic dimension, a land surface of 4,030 km2 and a population of 539,560 inhabitants.
Cape Verde is a vulnerable, isolated state that lies off Senegal approximately 500 km from the West African coast, situated between parallels 17° 12′ and 14° 48′ N and meridians 22° 41′ and 25° 22′ W. These features involve additional costs to finance its development, making this a country dependent on direct foreign investment flows.
Independence in 1975 allowed Cape Verde to earn “a statute of full member of the international community and acquire several compromises in order to promote its economic and social development, as well as to defend its territorial integrity”. This landmark allowed the country to get respect and recognition from international institutions and organizations. It was able, through the creation of conditions and resilience strategies, to alleviate the negative effects of insularity, taking opportunities for growth and socio-economic development.
Cape Verde occupies a privileged position between the Atlantic shores and, for this reason, has raised interest in the establishment of different partnerships. It should be noted that the country’s integration in the Economic Community of West African States (ECCWAS) has been important in the fight against transnational organized crime, with a particular focus on drug trafficking and the strengthening of bilateral cooperation with other states outside the Community.
The archipelago, by its privileged geographic position, has been chosen for illegal activities
Aware of the efforts that Cape Verde has made to promote consistent and sustainable development, we underline that socio-economic evolution is subject to various structural characteristics and intrinsic weaknesses, which are major challenges. Insularity itself constitutes one of the limitations, which implies a negative impact on the development process of the country; therefore, this should not be set aside on the policy options for the sector. The situation has been getting worse for two decades since the archipelago does not have enough resources for the surveillance of its vast maritime territory, especially in its Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), which results in the fragility of its borders. Cape Verde is, in the context of West Africa, referred to as one of the main routes from South America to Europe. Given the proliferation of these forms of transnational organized crime, the archipelago, by its privileged geographic position, has been chosen for illegal activities.
For the sustainable development of Cape Verde, it is desirable that joint coordination mechanisms are developed around fundraising, job creation and the bet on the improvement of the inhabitants’ living conditions because, besides overcoming the issue of insularity and its vulnerabilities, the country needs to fight the phenomena that threaten its security.
Recognizing its limitations as a small state with scarce resources and which excels in terms of aid mobilization for development, Cape Verde should continue to promote a culture of social peace reflected on internal and external policies and bet on a diplomacy of modesty and closeness based on the principles of peace in order to resolve or circumvent socioeconomic constraints. It is necessary to invest in the projection of Cape Verde at the regional level since the country occupies a privileged geographic position in the West African region, and this can allow fundraising through international cooperation.
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