'We must not breed terrorists'
2004-10-14 11:26
Algiers - Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika told a major meeting on global terrorism in Africa on Wednesday that the continent must act decisively to prevent it becoming a breeding ground for extremists.
"Terrorism has already struck our continent. It can set up its networks here, take advantage of the illegal circulation of weapons from conflict zones, the length and porosity of the borders and the human misery and distress that are sadly still too common in Africa," he said.
"The danger that it represents for us is therefore not to be underestimated," the Algerian leader told delegates in his opening speech.
Countering global extremism
He said the key to countering global extremism was therefore prevention: "So that the continent does not become a breeding ground for terrorism and a base for terrorist groups which could then indiscriminately attack African countries and other regions of the world from our continent."
About 50 delegations representing African countries and regional and international organisations, including the United Nations and European Union, were taking part in the two-day meeting.
Participants included senior officials, police and customs chiefs.
The co-ordinator of the fight against global terrorism within the European Union Gijs de Vries said Africa and the rest of the world must work closer together in the fight against extremism.
"In that struggle you will find Europe at your side," he said, adding: "Europe wants to establish close collaboration with Africa."
United States delegate Coffer Black agreed that all countries should work together to ensure the security of borders within Africa "and dismantle the networks that may have established themselves."
UN representative Javier Ruperez, addressing in particular delegates from the African Union, said the United Nations gave them total solidarity in their fight against global terrorism.
Terror attacks
Suicide bombings in Egyptian tourist resorts frequented by Israelis last week killed at least 32 people and wounded more than 120. They were the worst on Egyptian soil since a massacre in the Nile resort of Luxor in 1997 that left 58 foreign tourists dead.
In 1998 car bombs almost simultaneously blew up US embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam, killing 224 people, including 12 Americans.
And in November 2002 an all-terrain vehicle packed with explosives rammed an Israeli-owned Paradise hotel in the Kenyan port city of Mombasa, claiming 18 lives.
Earlier Bouteflika inaugurated a centre for research into the causes of international terrorism, set up by the 53-member African Union. - AFP
- SAPA