Hiiraan Online

Mogadishu (HOL) - United Nations leaders and African ambassadors gathered at the Security Council Chamber on Tuesday for a high-level discussion on combating terrorism and preventing violent extremism in Africa. The debate aimed to foster increased cooperation between the UN, the African Union (AU), and regional organizations and comes on the heels of a recent UN report that highlights the rapid proliferation of terrorism in Africa, causing widespread concern. President Filipe Nyusi of Mozambique, a nation grappling with a deadly insurgency in its northern region for over five years, chaired the debate.

Secretary-General António Guterres expressed grave concern over the growth of terrorist groups in the Sahel and other African regions.

"Despair, poverty, hunger, lack of basic services, unemployment, and unconstitutional changes in government continue to lay fertile ground for the creeping expansion of terrorist groups to infect new parts of the continent," he said. 

Guterres emphasized the UN's commitment to collaborating with Africa to eradicate terrorism, citing initiatives in areas like the Sahel, Lake Chad Basin, and Mozambique. 

In June, the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy, established in 2006, will undergo its eighth review, providing countries with a crucial opportunity to develop more effective methods for addressing the conditions that fuel terrorism. The Secretary-General stressed that human rights must be central to counter-terrorism efforts and cautioned against exclusively security-focused measures, which may inadvertently exacerbate the situation by increasing marginalization and exclusion.

African Union (AU) Chairperson and President of Comoros, Azali Assoumani, recognized the substantial growth of terrorism in Africa since the Libyan crisis in 2011. 

"In this way, progressively, terrorism took on greater and greater scope in Africa - from north to south, from east to west. And the terrorist contagion continues, broadening in almost all regions of Africa," he said, speaking through an interpreter. 

Assoumani pledged to "spare no effort" in ensuring the success of an AU initiative aimed at "silencing the guns" by 2030.

President Nyusi advocated for supporting regional solutions to counter-terrorism and encouraged a holistic approach that encompasses security, judicial, and socioeconomic interventions. 

"For Mozambique, this experience is vested with an added value, as, presently, we are fighting terrorism combining SADC regional multilateral efforts with bilateral efforts between Mozambique and Rwanda, and together we are successfully fighting terrorism," he said. 

He proposed creating a fund to bolster local community resilience, including job creation initiatives for young people in Africa and the Middle East.

Nyusi underscored the need to help developing countries burdened with debt and unable to effectively address the consequences of climate change and other crises, rendering them more susceptible to extremism, terrorism, and violent conflict. 

"For these countries to emerge from the current crisis, we call on the international community to restructure the debt and facilitate access to affordable funding for these high-risk countries," he said.