What does conflict actually look like up close, long before headlines catch up?In this episode of Panel 54, Waweru Njoroge and Ndu Okoh sit down with Frederick Grounds, a former Lieutenant Colonel in the British Army with over three decades of service, much of it spent training and working alongside African armed forces across the continent.
Now based in Nairobi, Grounds offers a rare practitioner’s view of what happens when diplomacy fails and violence becomes inevitable.
The conversation moves from Sudan’s humanitarian collapse to Africa's role in multinational military exercises, unpacking how wars begin quietly, how language shifts before bullets fly, and why civilians carry the deepest scars long after fighting ends.They examine Africa’s growing security footprint in a crowded geopolitical landscape.
From US and UK partnerships to China’s military base in Djibouti and Russia’s expanding presence in the Sahel, the discussion interrogates where collaboration strengthens African capacity and where it risks eroding sovereignty and accountability.At the heart of the episode is a sobering insight. Military power can stabilise fragile systems, but it can also replace political legitimacy rather than protect it. Africa’s challenge is not a lack of partners, but the ability to enforce limits, read the room, and say no when sovereignty is at stake.
A grounded, unsentimental conversation about force, diplomacy, and the thin line between security and control.
Lagos to Lamu. Cape Town to Cairo.This is Panel 54, a global perspective through an African lens.
📩 Contact: hello@panel54pod.com
🎙 Recorded in Nairobi, Kenya
🎧 Produced by Commex Africa and E & C Talent
