The National Security Adviser, NSA, Nuhu Ribadu, has called for more integrated security strategies that combine military, economic and regional cooperation efforts to combat the danger of terrorism in Africa.
Ribadu made the call at a High-Level African Counter-Terrorism Meeting with the theme ‘Strengthening Regional Cooperation and Institution Building to Address the Evolving Threat of Terrorism in Africa’, on Monday in Abuja.
He said the theme of the meeting reflects the urgent need to confront the impacts of terrorism that had continue to disrupt lives and threaten the collective security of all.
According to him, in 2023, there was 22 per cent increase in terrorism related deaths in 41 countries.
The NSA further stated that Africa’s security landscape has continued to face the challenges of terrorism and violent extremism, especially between 2020 and 2023.
He said the threats came from diverse terrorist groups such as Boko Haram and ISWAP in Northeast Nigeria, al Shabaab in Somalia and Islamic States in the Greater Sahara along the Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso border areas.
Others, he said, included the Allied Democratic Forces and Islamic State, Central African province in DRC Congo and Mozambique.
He said that the terrorist groups exploited local vulnerabilities and contributed to ongoing instability that necessitated integrated security strategies that combine military, economic and regional cooperation efforts.
“Additionally, political instability, governance challenges, ethnic and religious tensions, economic inequality and poverty also significantly contribute,” he added.
On his part, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Amb. Yusuf Tuggar, said the values, freedoms, hopes and aspirations of the continent are currently facing unprecedented threats as a result of terrorism.
Tuggar said the terrorists sought to destroy the institutions that facilitate stability, development and progress.
”Nations are fighting networks that know no boundaries or borders, where bombers and gunmen in one part of the world are financed from another, equipped from another, steal and picked targets without discrimination,” he added.