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This paper stems from issues that were deliberated on at a regional conference titled, Emerging Issues in the Sciences, Climate Change, Peace and Security and Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), organized in Djibouti, in May 2017 by UNESCO Regional Office for Eastern Africa.

The paper examines the issues and challenges of peace and security in Eastern Africa region. It puts into perspective higher education in the region, in terms of assess, quality, relevance, knowledge and skill products, and capacity to solve social challenges of society. The May 2017 Djibouti Conference on Higher Education, Peace and Security aimed at placing higher education at the center of understanding the complex regional challenges with regard to peace and security in a broad context, including poverty, climate change and environment, intergenerational transfer of knowledge, colonial/neo-colonial heritage, regional integration, cultural resources, and unemployment. The centrality of education as a tool for social transformation in Africa, and elsewhere is a critical element of transforming society, however that very element is up for debate. Specifically, the impact of higher education as a means of accelerating the sciences (natural and social sciences) is due for robust debate, as to whether or not, it is leading to innovations, creativity, and research-led solutions to challenges of society.

The critical issue for the Djibouti Conference deliberations was: could Science, technology and in more recent years, information and communications technology, lead to transformation of society in the region? The other issue was: is it only the natural sciences that have the greatest potential for that transformation, or that the social sciences and humanities are relevant in this context? Besides, since issues of peace and security are complex, could multidisciplinary approaches be appropriate? This paper is not a rapporteur's report of the Djibouti conference. It is a set of reflection and reframing of issues for further debate and discussion.