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African States Agree On Terrorism Plan

The East African Standard (Nairobi)
NEWS
August 8, 2004
Posted to the web August 8, 2004

By Joseph Murimi
Nairobi
Intelligence chiefs from 13 African countries meeting in Nanyuki have developed
and agreed on a common counter terrorism strategy.
Consensus on a strategy paper to harmonise various approaches to meet the
challenges posed by terrorism was reached at the end of a week-long conference
at the Mt Kenya Safari Club.
The director of the National Counter Terrorism Centre in Nairobi and the
convening chair of the conference, Brigadier Michael Gichangi, said the
countries had agreed on the way forward.
He said more consultations would be done until the strategy is adopted and
implemented.
Kenya's National Security minister, Dr Chris Murungaru, said that the
transnational nature of terrorism dictates that co-operation and partnerships
between countries and among domestic security agents be forged.
Murungaru said a common strategy was vital since no country could win the war
on terrorism alone.
He said recent terrorists attacks in the US, Kenya and other parts of the world
indicate that no country is immune to such indiscriminate terror.
"The enemy we confront today is invisible. It strikes when least expected at
the most painful spot and hides where it is almost impossible to trace and
smoke out," Murungaru said.
Murungaru said Kenya had formulated a counter-terrorism strategy and
established the National Counter Terrorism Centre.
He said for the war against terrorism to be sustained, it would require
capacity building and enormous investment in material, training and technology
as well as legislation.
Countries represented included Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi, Rwanda,
Zambia, D R Congo, Botswana, Egypt, Sudan, Somaliland, Comoros and Madagascar.

   

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