ABUJA, Nigeria
African Union (AU) Commission Chairperson Moussa Faki Mahamat has expressed serious concern about the escalating challenges of terrorism and violent extremism affecting the African continent.
"Terrorism and violent
extremism are the biggest evils of our time -- spreading to all the five
regions of Africa," the AU Commission chief told a high-level meeting on
counter-terrorism in the Nigerian capital of Abuja on Monday, according to an
AU statement.
Faki referred to the scourge
of terrorism in Africa as "a form of metastasis", as he highlighted
the concerning situations in the Horn of Africa, the Great Lakes Region, the
Sahel, and parts of Northern Africa.
Data from the African Center
for the Study and Research on Terrorism at the AU indicated a substantial
increase in both the frequency and lethal nature of terrorist attacks in 2023.
According to the center, an
average of eight terrorism incidents and 44 fatalities occurred daily in Africa
during the course of 2023, compared to a lower average of four attacks and 18
victims per day between 2017 and 2021.
Faki said the stark situation
"underscores our collective and urgent need to re-evaluate our
counter-terrorism strategies to effectively address our vulnerabilities and
shortcomings in the face of this growing phenomenon."
He further stressed that AU
members must translate their anti-terrorism commitments into actions so as to
fully realize the continental vision articulated at the Malabo Summit on
terrorism back in 2022.
Faki called on African
countries to introduce innovative approaches and concerted efforts in the fight
against terrorism.
"However, we cannot
understand that elsewhere in the world, coalitions to fight against terrorism
were established and that similar efforts are not made in, at least, one of the
five regions in Africa, where the destructive phenomenon is ravaging human
lives, infrastructures and institutions," he said.
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