TheCable

President Bola Tinubu has called for the establishment of a regional standby force to tackle terrorism in Africa.

Tinubu spoke in Abuja on Monday at the African high-level counter-terrorism meeting hosted by the Nigerian government.

The event was supported by the United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism (UNOCT).

The president said the standby force could serve as a rapid deployment mechanism, capable of swiftly responding to what he had earlier called an imported evil.

“A regional standby force that includes tackling terrorism as part of its mandate must not be abandoned. I am mindful of the funding, legal and logistical complexities that face the proper establishment of such a force,” Tinubu said.

“Such a force can stand as a strong deterrent to large-scale and protracted terrorist operations and the capture, occupation or disruption of strategic land and resources. We must continue to make careful yet meaningful progress toward this goal.”

Tinubu also expressed the need for a fully operational regional counter-terrorism centre to serve as a hub for intelligence sharing, operational coordination, and capacity building.

The president said the establishment of such a hub should be accompanied by strengthening existing counter-terrorism structures such as the Regional Intelligence Fusion Unit (RIFU) in Abuja, the African Centre for the Study and Research on Terrorism (ACSRT) in Algiers, and the Committee of Intelligence and Security Services of Africa (CISSA) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

“Establishing an all-inclusive African Union ministerial committee on counter-terrorism is also a high priority as envisaged in the declaration of the 16th Extraordinary Summit of the African Union Assembly two years ago in May 2022,” Tinubu added.

“This would ensure that a forum of high-level government officials meets regularly to assess our counter-terrorism efforts and provide guidance on how to improve.”

The president also stressed the need to halt the proliferation of small arms and light weapons on the continent, saying it requires continuous and concerted actions by all African leaders and foreign stakeholders.

Tinubu pledged Nigeria’s commitment to fighting terrorism and violent extremism on the continent and urged delegates to make the meeting “historic”.

Below are photos from the summit.