EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The Horn of Africa and the Great Lakes Security Symposium, a high-level strategic forum organized by the HORN International Institute for Strategic Studies in partnership with the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (KAS) – Regional Programme Security Dialogue for East Africa, was convened on December 8, 2025, at the Serena Hotel in Nairobi, Kenya. This symposium served as a critical platform for a multi-sectoral assembly of stakeholders, including senior policymakers, regional security practitioners, renowned scholars, and high-ranking representatives from the African Union (AU), the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), and the East African Community (EAC). Amidst a global climate of shifting alliances and regional volatility, the primary objective of the gathering was to dissect the rapidly mutating security landscape of the Horn and Great Lakes regions home to over 250 million people and to formulate actionable, evidence-based strategies to arrest the cycle of state fragility and conflict that currently threatens to undo decades of developmental progress.