AU Peace & Security Council: Morocco sounds the alarm over proliferation of terrorist acts in Africa

Morocco has sounded the alarm over the proliferation of terrorist acts in Africa, which counts 19 separatist movements, and which is the second region of the world where terrorism strikes most often and, above all, indiscriminately.

This came in the address delivered Friday by Moroccan Foreign Minister, Nasser Bourita, during the ministerial meeting of the African Union Peace and Security Council, the first held under Moroccan chairmanship during the month of October.

Bourita, who was chairing the session via videoconference from Rabat, renewed the Kingdom’s commitment to put its experience in the fight against terrorism at the service of peace, especially in Africa where terrorist acts are proliferating. Africa counts 19 separatist movements, and is the second region of the world where terrorism strikes most often and, above all, indiscriminately.

Morocco is committed to promoting South-South, North-South and triangular solidarity cooperation, in order to address the complex and transnational nature of the terrorist threat in Africa, he said, adding that this commitment is reflected first by the Kingdom’s accession to several sub-regional cooperation frameworks aimed at strengthening the collective capacity of African countries to protect their borders from transnational threats.

During this ministerial meeting on development and de-radicalization as levers in the fight against terrorism and violent extremism, he also referred to the efforts of the Kingdom in the field of de-radicalization, including through the establishment of specialized institutions to train African Imams, like the Foundation Mohammed VI of African Ulema “which is established as a real platform for exchange and sharing to address the misinterpretation of religious texts and messages.”

Bourita also noted that the Kingdom is committed to promoting and defending African security concerns in the international agenda, including during his three consecutive terms as co-chair of the Global Counter-Terrorism Forum (GCTF) and his co-chairmanship of the Africa Focus Group of the Global Coalition against ISIS.

With 48% of the victims of terrorism in the world are African, 7,234 terrorist attacks that have claimed the lives of 28,960 victims in 2021 and 27 terrorist groups listed on the UN sanctions list, Africa is experiencing “an unprecedented proliferation of terrorist groups,” said Bourita, noting that the economic impact of terrorism in Africa over the past 10 years has amounted to 171 billion dollars.

The Sahel-Saharan region has become in a decade the second region of the world most affected by terrorism, the government official said noting that “this bleak picture should challenge us on the need to adopt a holistic approach that devotes more effort to the underlying factors fueling the proliferation of radicalization and terrorism on our continent.

Among these factors, Bourita cited “the latent multiplication” of separatist groups that “is now established as a real catalyst for political and security instability on the continent, by allying themselves with, or even absorbing, the agendas and modus operandi of terrorist and criminal entities.

To dry up the sources of the terrorist threat, Morocco advocates, among other things, the establishment of a platform for collaboration between Member States for the exchange of expertise in de-radicalization and the establishment of a development fund dedicated to financing African collective action in socio-economic and human development, said Bourita.

The meeting was marked by 12 interventions from member countries knowing that the Peace and Security Council of the African Union has 15 members.