Leaders from across the continent joined delegates in examining how to better combat terrorism and prevent violent crime through stronger cooperation between the UN and regional organizations.
President Filipe Nyusi of Mozambique chaired the debate. The country, which became the rotating Security Council chairman this month, has been fighting a deadly conflict in the north for more than five years.
‘Poor land’ for expansion
The Secretary General expressed deep concern over the opportunities that terrorist groups are making in the Sahel and other regions in Africa.
“Hope, poverty, hunger, lack of basic services, unemployment, and illegitimate changes in government continue to provide fertile ground for the expansion of terrorist groups. infecting new parts of the continent,” he said.
Furthermore, fighters, funds and weapons are increasingly moving between regions and across the continent, he said, while terrorist groups are forming new alliances with organized crime networks and organized crime groups. Their “ideas of violence” are still circulating online.
United against terrorism
“Just as terrorism can isolate people, face it can bring countries together“Mr. Guterres said, referring to many initiatives across Africa, including in the Sahel, the Lake Chad Basin and Mozambique.
UN Secretary General António Guterres addresses the Security Council meeting on the threats to international peace and security caused by terrorist acts.
“The UN stands with Africa to end this epidemic,” he added. Above all, it includes our ongoing close cooperation with the African Union (AU) and African regional and local organizations.”
Mr. Guterres said the UN is sending proportionate aid to African countries in areas that include prevention, legal aid, investigations, prosecutions, rehabilitation and rehabilitation.
Support human rights
Alongside Nigeria, the UN is also convening the upcoming African Conference on Countering Terrorism and is intensifying work on key peace initiatives. The organization also advocated for “robust” AU peacekeeping missions and new counter-terrorism operations, including Security Council mandates. He urged countries to support this important work.
The Secretary-General also watched in June, when the UN’s Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy, adopted in 2006, underwent its eighth review. This will mark a “critical opportunity” for countries to find new ways to more effectively control the conditions that create fertile ground for terrorism to spread.
The meeting will also be a reminder of that Human rights must be at the center of counter-terrorism effortshe added.
“Evidence shows that terrorism efforts that are only security-focused rather than based on human rights, can increase inequality and discrimination, and make the situation worse,” he said.
Terrorist ‘contagion’ continues
The new AU chair, President Azali Assoumani of Comoros, noted that although terrorism has existed for ages “since the Libyan crisis in 2011 it has really exploded, and especially in Africa.”
As a result, thousands of foreign fighters and fighters have flooded into the Sahel, which helps with the introduction of terrorist groups into the continent, with “the proliferation of uncontrolled weapons”.
“In this way, in progress, terrorism takes a bigger and bigger place in Africa – from north to south, from east to west. And terrorism continues, expanding in all regions of Africa,” he said, speaking through a translator.
He vowed to “leave no stone unturned” to ensure an AU flagship initiative to “silence guns” by 2030, becomes a reality.
Filipe Jacinto Nyusi, President of Mozambique, chaired a Security Council meeting on threats to international peace and security caused by terrorist acts.
Different situations, global risk
Like climate change, terrorism is one of the most serious threats to the global community, said President Nyusi of Mozambique, who delivered his first speech to the UN Security Council.
“The spread of terrorism is very dangerous, and it is driven by factors that vary from region to region. On the one hand, radicalization based on identity variables caused by indifference and, on the other hand, the manipulation of socio-economic factors has accelerated the recruitment to terrorist groups, especially of youth,” he said, speaking through a translator.
Citing the Global Terrorism Index 2022, he reported that some 48 percent of terrorism-related deaths takes place in Africa, while the Sahel is the “new center” of terrorist attacks.
African expertise and solutions
President Nyusi said that African countries, the AU and organizations on the continent – such as the Southern African Development Community (SADC), the West African ECOWAS group, and its partner in East Africa, IGAD – have spent many years experienced in conflict resolution.
A SADC representative in Mozambique (SAMIM) has been fighting terrorists in the northern region of Cabo Delgado for two years – an example of “African solutions to African problems” and a method that can be replicated elsewhere.
“For Mozambique, this experience is given an added value, as, now we fight terrorism in the joint efforts of the SADC region with two efforts between Mozambique and Rwanda, and we fight terrorism,” he said.
Fund youth work program
President Nyusi also offered proposals for the upcoming review of the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy, urging countries to establish a fund that will strengthen regional stability, including through creative projects for young people, especially in Africa and the Middle East.
Its other recommendations include informing support for regional decisions to combat terrorism, and promoting a comprehensive approach that integrates, security, justice and economic solutions.
He also highlighted the need to support developing countries that are unable to respond effectively to the effects of “climate change and other man-made crises” because they are saddled with debt.
International currency exchange
He warned that the situation makes these countries increasingly vulnerable to extremism, terrorism and violent behavior.
“For these countries to get out of the current crisis, we call on the international community to debt restructuring and facilitate access to affordable finance for high-risk countries,” he said.
“To this end, the global financial system needs to change by reforming the various financial institutions.”
