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THE barbaric bombing of the Saint Peter and Saint Paul Church in Cairo in December last year by Islamic State militants again highlighted the web of terrorism that threatens Africa on a daily basis. Somalia， Libya， and Nigeria were most often the targets in 2016 with ISIS， Al-Shabaab and Boko Haram claiming responsibility for the atrocities in these countries.
In addressing this ongoing scourge， the often quoted phrase of Africa solutions for African problems requires that the African Union （AU） intervenes in conflicts across the continent to show solidarity. In this respect， the AU needs to take more charge of African security - internal conflict and the threat of terrorism. But playing a bigger role requires more resources. Currently， peacekeeping operations are in the main funded by development partners via the United Nations （UN）.
This year there is a need to see a stronger relationship between the UN’s peacekeeping role and the AU’s peace enforcement role. In this regard， and to provide the resources needed， the AU Peace Fund， proposed and adopted at the AU Summit last year， has an important part to play with its expected launch in 2017. The fund， which the AU says will benefit from the institution of a levy of 0.2 percent on eligible imports， will finance the AU’s peace and security operations through a provision of $65 million by each of the continent’s five regions per year through the import levy， and is proposed to increase to $80 million per region by 2020.
“Combating terrorism is very expensive and creating this fund is good development， and we hope to benefit from the solidarity of Africans and international partners. This is a common threat that requires a global approach，” said AU Commissioner for Peace and Security Smail Chergui.
Along with the necessary funding， combating terrorism can only be successful if it is approached from a multilateral perspective that includes military， intelligence gathering， diplomatic and financial aspects.
This is held to be a sound policy approach by many observers and role players including Peter Kagwanja， the CEO of Nairobi-based pan-African think tank Africa Policy Institute.
Late last year， he extolled the virtues of anti-terrorism initiatives that are intelligence driven and sensitive to national cohesion， pointing out that these have seen much success in the last two years.
“A shift from military-led to a more holistic counter-terrorism approach that focuses on winning the hearts and minds of the population has been a success， given the dramatic slump in the number of attacks on Kenyan soil by foreign adversaries，” said Kagwanja.
Aligned to the hearts and minds approach， good governance is essential to the fight against terrorism as it includes such important factors as rule of law， a well-functioning society and a thriving private sector. While these factors do not prevent terrorism， as can be seen in Europe， they do provide the environment which makes it more difficult for terrorism to thrive.
In this regard， the AU needs to be unequivocal in its approach to constantly bring to the attention that discrimination， both ethnic and sectarian， political exclusion and religious intolerance cannot be sustained and need to be abolished.
Along with the funding of peace enforcement， this is essential to silence the guns and keep the continent safe.
In addressing this ongoing scourge， the often quoted phrase of Africa solutions for African problems requires that the African Union （AU） intervenes in conflicts across the continent to show solidarity. In this respect， the AU needs to take more charge of African security - internal conflict and the threat of terrorism. But playing a bigger role requires more resources. Currently， peacekeeping operations are in the main funded by development partners via the United Nations （UN）.
This year there is a need to see a stronger relationship between the UN’s peacekeeping role and the AU’s peace enforcement role. In this regard， and to provide the resources needed， the AU Peace Fund， proposed and adopted at the AU Summit last year， has an important part to play with its expected launch in 2017. The fund， which the AU says will benefit from the institution of a levy of 0.2 percent on eligible imports， will finance the AU’s peace and security operations through a provision of $65 million by each of the continent’s five regions per year through the import levy， and is proposed to increase to $80 million per region by 2020.
“Combating terrorism is very expensive and creating this fund is good development， and we hope to benefit from the solidarity of Africans and international partners. This is a common threat that requires a global approach，” said AU Commissioner for Peace and Security Smail Chergui.
Along with the necessary funding， combating terrorism can only be successful if it is approached from a multilateral perspective that includes military， intelligence gathering， diplomatic and financial aspects.
This is held to be a sound policy approach by many observers and role players including Peter Kagwanja， the CEO of Nairobi-based pan-African think tank Africa Policy Institute.
Late last year， he extolled the virtues of anti-terrorism initiatives that are intelligence driven and sensitive to national cohesion， pointing out that these have seen much success in the last two years.
“A shift from military-led to a more holistic counter-terrorism approach that focuses on winning the hearts and minds of the population has been a success， given the dramatic slump in the number of attacks on Kenyan soil by foreign adversaries，” said Kagwanja.
Aligned to the hearts and minds approach， good governance is essential to the fight against terrorism as it includes such important factors as rule of law， a well-functioning society and a thriving private sector. While these factors do not prevent terrorism， as can be seen in Europe， they do provide the environment which makes it more difficult for terrorism to thrive.
In this regard， the AU needs to be unequivocal in its approach to constantly bring to the attention that discrimination， both ethnic and sectarian， political exclusion and religious intolerance cannot be sustained and need to be abolished.
Along with the funding of peace enforcement， this is essential to silence the guns and keep the continent safe.