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- Jul 30, 2008
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Vice President, Dr. Mohammed Gharib Bilal
Vice President, Dr. Mohammed Gharib Bilal yesterday called on African nations to join hands in addressing trans-national organized crimes like extremism and terrorism.
Dr. Bilal was speaking in Arusha at the 5th Annual High Level Retreat on the promotion of peace, security and stability in Africa.
The retreat was organised by the African Union in collaboration with Tanzania with the technical support from the African Centre for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes (ACCORD) and the Institute for Security Studies (ISS),
It brought on board leadership of the AU Commission and its Special Envoys and representatives, members of the AU Panel of the Wise, and ambassadors among others.
Themed: "Silencing the guns-owning the future" the retreat also brought together different experts in conflict resolution and security from all over Africa.
The Vice President said Africa continues to fall prey of emerging threats like terrorism, piracy, trafficking in small arms and light weapons, narcotic drugs and human trafficking.
"Amongst all these, terrorism is becoming a major challenge in our continent. Nearly all African regions have been affected by terrorist attacks with devastating effects. Apart from being targets for terrorist attacks, African territories have also been used by terrorists as a base to launch attack on foreign interests or as safe heavens," the VP acknowledged.
According to Dr. Bilal, Africa is also used as a terrorist breeding ground and source of recruitment and financing.
"This situation poses a serious challenge to the promotion of peace, security and stability in our continent and must not be allowed to continue," he told the gathering.
He said Africa is prone to a number of security concerns, which cannot be dealt with by individual countries, but rather collectively.
Permanent Representative to the African Union and Chair of the Peace and Security Council, Ambassador Kongit Sineriorgis called on the region to promote peace, security and stability, saying: "These are panacea to Africa's sustainable development."
Suzana Malcorra, Chef de Cabinet to the Executive Office of the UN secretary-general said there is need for African nations to ensure their resources are distributed equally for long-lasting peace in their respective countries.
"This will end unnecessary conflicts, caused by unequal distribution of resources," she said.
She also urged African nations to find lasting solutions to the outbreak of diseases such as Ebola which has already killed thousands of people in West African countries. In this regard, Malcorra, called for synergies between AU and UN in addressing the new enemy, terrorism.
Tanzania's Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Benard Membe said the retreat will adopt a long-term and structural approach to understanding and responding to violence and instability on the continent and it will consider two specific threats of particular concern.
The first of these threats is the phenomenon of terrorist insurgencies and the ways in which local extremist networks relate both to global trends as well as to transnational organised criminal networks.
Secondly, the retreat will consider the emerging threat of climate change to peace, security and stability on the continent, a threat likely to grow over coming years and that, if not addressed, will undermine all efforts to silence the guns.
SOURCE:THE GUARDIAN
http://www.ippmedia.com/frontend/?l=73420