The first Dakar International Forum on Peace and Security in Africa was launched by Senegal with the support of France during the Elysée Summit a year earlier and led by two think tanks (Pan-African Institute of Strategy and Foundation for Strategic Research, with the support of the strategy and risk-management consulting firm CEIS). The Dakar Forum offered a rare opportunity to bring together a community of leaders and experts on peace and security issues from 30 African countries, a dozen international organisations and high-level contributions outside Africa including the United States, China, Japan, the Netherlands, Germany, Spain, Norway and Switzerland, but also many leaders and experts from civil society (think tanks, universities, NGOs, press and business), for an informal, very frank and direct dialogue.