MALABO – Sunday, 29 May 2022 (APS) – Minister of Foreign Affairs and National Community Abroad Ramtane Lamamra gave Saturday, in Malabo (Equatorial Guinea), a presentation on the report submitted by the President of the Republic Abdelmadjid Tebboune to the African Union (AU) Extraordinary Summit on Terrorism and Unconstitutional Changes in Africa, in his capacity as AU’s leader in the prevention and fight against terrorism and violent extremism.
Representing the president of the Republic, the Algerian head of diplomacy said that this 16th extraordinary Summit “is of an extreme importance and takes place at the right moment, in the light of the growing and frantic challenges imposed on us by the increasing threats of terrorism and violent extremism in Africa.”
“The spread of this scourge in the African continent is dependent on the extent of the volume and intensity of the terrorist attacks targeting both the armed forces of member countries and civilians (…) We are facing the most dangerous threats on peace, stability and development in the continent,” he warned.
He called to “be closely interested in a number of factors which encourage the spread of this violent scourge, like the displacement and return of foreign combatants, defeated in other areas of conflicts, notably in the Middle East, the redeployment of terrorist groups and the exploitation of the virtual space to apologize for their acts, transforming it into a new front in our fight against terrorism and violent extremism, without forgetting the growing ties between terrorism and cross-border organized crime, including drug trafficking, human trafficking, illegal migration, the illicit exploitation of natural resources and the ransom payment.”
“These are all factors that strengthen the capacities of the armed groups, in addition to the negative impact of the unconstitutional changes of the African governments, in terms of the weakening of the public institutions (coming under the States), escalation of the already vulnerable security scene in several African countries, notably in the Sahel-Saharan region,” added Lamamra, underscoring that the fight against terrorism “requires showing a high level of vigilance, mobilization and cooperation.”
“On the basis of its painful but successful experience in the fight against terrorism, Algeria which paid a heavy price during the 1990s, in the face of the resounding silence of the international community, had always confirmed that in front of such a threat of global proportions, the international cooperation and solidarity become two pressing needs.”