'Africa has felt terrorism'

2004-03-17 13:47

Addis Ababa, March 17 - The African Union (AU) is to establish a centre to coordinate information on terrorism in the Algerian capital in the next six months, the chairman of AU's commission Alpha Oumar Konare has said

"We have agreed to open a centre for terrorism within six months to be located in Algiers, which will coordinate information and design a joint mechanism to fight terrorism in the continent," said Konare during a meeting of AU's executive council late on Tuesday.

"We are not doing this to please the Spanish or the Americans, we are doing it for our own sake," he added.

"Terrorism has no colour, has no face and has no religion. It our common enemy. We Africans are determined to fight terrorism in all its forms. We have to intensify the fight more than ever."

Konare said the centre in Algiers will be charged gathering information from all AU member states and facilitating the exchange of information between countries.

It will also serve as an early-warning mechanism to alert states on possible terror acts in the continent, Konare said.

We have experienced terror

"We have experienced terror ourselves like in Kenya and Morocco," Konare told reporters after the meeting, adding that sustainable peace and security were among the AU's main goals.

"Fighting terrorism is part and parcel of our vision," he added.

The US emabssy in Nairobi was bombed in August 1998, when 213 people, mainly Kenyans but also including 12 US citizens, were killed. Responsibility for that bombing, which took place the same day as an attack on the US embassy in Tanzania, where 11 people died, was claimed by Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network.

In November 2002, a car-bomb exploded in front of an Israeli-owned hotel near the Kenyan port city of Mombasa killing 12 Kenyans, three Israelis and three presumed bombers.

A bomb blast in the Moroccan city of Casablanca on May 16 last year killed 45 people including 12 suicide bombers. Most of the victims were Moroccans.

In April 2002 suicide bombers attacked an ancient synagogue on the Tunisian tourist isle of Djerba, killing 21 people, including 14 German tourists, two French citizens and five Tunisians.

The United States last week renewed a warning to its citizens intending to travel to east Africa, saying the region is still at risk from terrorist attacks.

"The Department of State believes there remains the threat of future terrorist attacks in east Africa," said the travel warning.

The region includes the Comoros, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius, the French overseas province of Reunion, Seychelles, Somalia, Sudan and Tanzania.

"Supporters of Al Qaeda and other extremists are active in east Africa," the warning, which is valid six months, said.

- AFP