Panorama_Estrategico_2015

Blanca Palacián DenzaAbstractThe great African continent stands out for its diversity. Thus, we canspeak about flourishing countries but also about zones of chaos and extremeweakness. Challenges and opportunities are mixed in this continentwhich gets increasingly closer to us. Challenges to safety such asthe Ebola crisis, the threat of terrorism and of organized crime, or themigratory movements menace the development of the native population,and that of the surrounding regions and of the European continent. In thiscontext, Spain is the most obvious bridge between Africa and the EuropeanUnion for opportunities but also for threats.Thanks to the international assistance through collective initiatives suchas the African Union and its missions, or those led by NATO, the EU, andthe UN, Africa is facing up to some of these challenges more effectivelythan in the past years.As a collective initiative for development, in other words, for security, becauseone cannot exist without the other, the Millennium DevelopmentGoals are specifically analyzed in this chapter, at a time when they are onthe verge of revision and update.Key WordsOpportunities, challenges, migratory movements, terrorism, piracy, armedconflicts, demography, ebola, security, development, Millennium DevelopmentGoals.100