Spy chiefs call for programmes to fight terrorism

Police officers from Sudan arrive for the East African Police Chiefs Cooperation Organisation meeting at Whitesands Hotel in Mombasa on August 25, 2014. PHOTO | LABAN WALLOGA |

What you need to know:

  • They called for economic, political and diplomatic programmes backed by a strong military force to eradicate terrorist threats on the continent.
  • A major highlight of the meeting was the creation of a special squad that will counter insurgency and conflicts across African countries.

Days before the African Union Heads of State meeting, spy chiefs from all over Africa met in Nairobi to discuss what is becoming Africa’s biggest security challenge — terrorism.

In their final communiqué on Saturday, the intelligence chiefs said Africa would not win the war against terrorism if the Heads of State did not rid their countries of corruption, marginalisation, poverty and unemployment.

The officers from 41 African countries said the four factors easily swayed youth to extremism.

“The pace and manner in which youth are indoctrinated into extremist ideologies is worrying. There is need for the continent to deal with this phenomenon,” Kenya’s Director of External Intelligence Chris Mburu said.

The chiefs, he said, emphasised the need for joint operations at national and regional level as well as sharing mechanisms to combat terrorism.

They called for economic, political and diplomatic programmes backed by a strong military force to eradicate terrorist threats on the continent.

Mr Mburu said the spy chiefs agreed to treat an attack on one state as an attack on all of them.

They met under the auspices of the Committee of Intelligence and Security Services of Africa.

“Governments need more rigorous action in dealing with terrorism,” Mr Mburu said, adding that as terrorist groups become more sophisticated and educated, their tactics become more complicated.

SHARING INFORMATION

“Terrorists are building alliances worldwide and radicalising youth at a tender age,” Kenya’s External Intelligence boss said, adding, porous borders made it tougher to fight terrorism.

The African Union chairperson’s special representative for counter-terrorism cooperation, Mr Francisco Caetano Madiera, said terrorist gangs moved freely, regrouped and adapted to the new realities on the ground because African countries were mean with sharing intelligence information.

“If we shared information, the extremists’ logistical networks would be broken and weakened. The African Union has not been able to defeat terrorism and this is posing a great threat to Africa as a whole, not only in protecting its people, but also because development of the continent is sabotaged.”

He said radicalisation and extremism would only be defeated when governments prioritised security issues in funds allocation.

The meeting, which discussed ways of “enhancing intelligence cooperation and coordination to address radicalisation and extremism in Africa”, handed over the chairmanship of Cissa for the next one year to Maj-Gen Michael Gichangi from Zimbabwe’s Maj-Gen Happyton Bonyongwe.

Maj-Gen Gichangi recently retired but is yet to hand over to newly appointed Maj-Gen Philip Kameru.

A major highlight of the meeting was the creation of a special squad that will counter insurgency and conflicts across African countries.

PEACE MISSIONS

The African Standby Force that takes off in December 2015 will help member states deal with terrorist attacks and political conflicts as well as participate in peace missions.

African states are expected to contribute troops to the force which will be stationed at different locations on the continent where they would be called upon to deal with emergencies and insurgencies.

The deputy chairperson of the African Union Commission, Mr Erastus Mwencha, said the body was already working on setting up the ASF.

The heads of intelligence were expected to share the highlights of their meeting with their Heads of State, who met in Nairobi on Tuesday to discuss on ways of fighting terrorism in Africa.