International counter-terrorism experts’ meeting ends in Abuja
Member states must strengthen collaboration and properly coordinate their interventions to succeed in curbing terrorism in the sub-region, ECOWAS Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace and Security, Brigadier General Mahamane Toure, has said.
Speaking in Abuja on Monday, 9 May, 2011 during the opening of a two-day consultative meeting of international experts to consider the Draft ECOWAS Counter-Terrorism Strategy and Implementation Plan; Brigadier General Toure said; “the region cannot afford to treat terrorism with indifference because it remains a critical challenge against the background of various incidents in Member States”.
Toure, who revealed that some Member States have signed and ratified existing international instruments on counter-terrorism, while others have enacted national legislation for domesticating such instruments for the prosecution and punishment of offenders; blamed terrorist activities in the region on complex factors related to political, economic, social and cultural issues exacerbated by widespread poverty and youth unemployment.
Brigadier General Toure added that ECOWAS Commission has also evolved various regional instruments with ‘robust framework and institutional capacity to assist Member States in their efforts to prevent and combat terrorism’ according to a press statement No. 62/2010 issued in Abuja on 9 May 2011.
“The challenge for the region is for Member States to coordinate their interventions and strengthen collaboration in the fight against the common threat” … “any success in our efforts to eliminate and prevent safe havens would require all Member States to be on the same wave length, particularly in the prohibition regimes and punishment of terrorism offences”, Toure stressed.
The consultative meeting ends today, Tuesday, May 10, 2011 at the ECOWAS Commission headquarters in Abuja.
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