Dominique Jean Olivier Rakotozafy is a senior defence and security expert and former Minister of Defence of the Republic of Madagascar. A graduate of the Military Academy of Madagascar, he has held several prominent military and government positions, including Commandant of the Military Academy, Head of the Education and Training Bureau at the Army General Staff, and National Security Adviser in the Office of the President. His extensive operational experience includes service as an Infantry Company Commander and Infantry Battalion Commander. He currently contributes to professional and academic development as a lecturer at the Military Academy, the Catholic University, and the Center for Diplomatic and Strategic Studies.
Rakotozafy holds a master’s degree in Finance and Accounting and has completed advanced defence and security programmes at the Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies in Hawaii, the Defense Resources Management Institute in California, the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, and France’s Institut des hautes études de défense nationale. His principal areas of expertise include strategic formulation, maritime security, security sector reform, defence education, and geopolitics. He has contributed to several major international forums, including the African Union Workshop on Security Sector Reform in the Central African Republic in 2017, the Raisina Dialogue in 2020, the Cape Town Conversation in 2024, and workshops organised by the Africa Center for Strategic Studies on maritime security in the southwestern Indian Ocean. He has also been a regular participant in the Bay of Bengal Conversation, contributing to its 2023, 2024, and 2025 editions.
