(Ecofin Agency) - On November 6, 2018, in the framework of the fifth edition of Dakar international forum on peace and security in Africa (Forum international de Dakar sur la paix et la sécurité en Afrique-CICAD), Jean-Yves Le Drian, French minister of foreign affairs, and Sidiki Kaba, his Senegalese peer, inaugurated the Dakar Cybersecurity Regional oriented national school. The training school which is the result of a partnership between Senegal and France had been announced by the French minister of foreign affairs during the preceding CICAD held on November 13-14, 2017 in Dakar. A year later, it is ready and is announced to officially start operations in January 2019.

During the ministerial council of November 7, 2018, Macky Sall, Senegal's president who expressed his joy about this construction, declared that the school would strengthen the technical knowledge and capacities of relevant parties by sensitizing and training them. In a statement, Quai d’Orsay explained that the school’s aim was to boost "the local capacities of African states to fight crime, terrorism, and radicalization, as well as helping develop solutions for digital investigations against cybercriminals".  It will also help "strengthen regional cooperation between African states [in the fight against cybercriminality] via a harmonization of expertise and practices”.

Currently installed in the headquarters of Dakar national school of Administration, the cybersecurity school would be moved to Diamniadio, the new town under construction 30 kilometers from the capital and which should be one of the country’s technology centers.