Ambassador Permanent Representative of Morocco to the AU and UNECA, Mohamed Arrouchi, who was speaking at a PSC meeting via videoconference devoted to the examination of the report of the Chairperson of the AU Commission on terrorism, stressed that the terrorist threat in Africa today is deeply rooted and worrying.
The continent suffered an economic loss of $171 billion due to terrorism over the past decade, the Moroccan diplomat lamented, noting that Africa had to bear alone the consequences of the displacement of foreign terrorist fighters who found refuge on the continent.
“Our continent is witnessing something that rarely happens elsewhere: collaboration, especially between terrorist groups, non-state armed groups, separatists, criminal gangs and kidnappers for ransom regardless of their ideological credo, who are becoming increasingly dangerous through illicit financial flows and the spread of small arms and light weapons,” Mr. Arrouchi said.
The link between terrorist groups, separatist groups and transnational criminal groups, “a trend that must concern us all because it arouses a lot of concern and spreads without attracting the necessary attention,” insisted the Moroccan diplomat.
“We need to have the right diagnosis of the threat so that the responses provided are also adapted. The CPS strategy must go beyond the Daesh and Al Qaeda groups and also tackle their links with other criminal groups, separatists, bandits, organized gangs and various groups linked to organized crime,” added Mr. Arrouchi.
Morocco recommends to “our august Council to urgently consider the long-term consequences that could ensue in order to remedy this dangerous situation of cooperation and links between terrorists and other criminal groups, separatists and various groups linked to transnational organized crime,” the Moroccan diplomat reiterated.
2024-08-20 17:41:07