Eastern Africa to develop strategy for countering extremism

Representatives from the Horn and Eastern Africa met today in Khartoum, to develop a regional strategy for countering and preventing extremism.

The UN Development Programme (UNDP) was requested by the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) to support the development of a strategy to counter terrorism and violent extremism for the region – that also includes Tanzania, which is not an IGAD member state.

The strategy will be developed in collaboration with Sudan’s National Anti-Terrorism Commission. The project will supervised by the UNDP, and supported by the Japanese government.

The UNDP reported in a press statement today that the event was attended by Abbas El Ruzam, Under-Secretary of the Sudanese Justice Ministry, Gen. Mohamed Jamaleldin Ahmed of the Sudanese Anti-Terrorism Commission, the Japanese Ambassador in Sudan, Hidaka Ito, IGAD representative Simon Nyambura, and UNDP Country Director Selva Ramachandran.

El Ruzam addressed the opening: “This consultation session comes in line with the Government of Sudan’s general approach to combat terrorism which is a phenomenon that needs the coming together of all parties. Because of its position in the region Sudan has been receiving refugees for years, and has been working on preventative measures for combating terrorism and criminal acts through passing legislations that help Sudan in this approach.

“Poverty alone does not cause a person to become a violent extremist, but rather the instability that allows and nurtures this tendency.”

“Sudan has also ratified a number of regional and international treaties countering terrorism, in addition to bilateral treaties with a number of countries such as Ethiopia, Eritrea, and Libya. We strongly feel that that these consultations will have a positive impact in terms of establishing regional coordination and in joining efforts.”

Emphasising his government’s commitment to countering terrorism, the Japanese Ambassador stated that “It is a great pleasure and honour to attend this opening session of IGAD Sudan Consultations for the Development of a Counter-Terrorism and Countering Violent Extremism Strategy. The Government of Japan has contributed $250,000 through the UNDP to IGAD for a project to the develop a regional strategy to prevent and counter violent extremism. This consultative meeting in Khartoum is a part of that exercise, a part of our efforts to fight against violent extremism.

Root causes

The UNDP country director stated that “It is necessary to address the root causes of violent extremism such as unemployment and poverty. Livelihood support should be extended to people to become productive citizens, as enshrined in the Sudan National Five Year Plans and the Sustainable Development Goals.

“However, I would like to point out that poverty alone does not cause a person to become a violent extremist, but rather the instability that allows and nurtures this tendency. Though there could be many reasons that trigger youth to join extremist groups, we at UNDP would like to emphasise the imperative of a development approach to address this entire problem. In this regard, we are promoting alternative livelihoods for unemployed youth to transform them into productive and peace loving citizens of this country in line with Sustainable Development Goals which are endorsed by all IGAD countries, including Sudan.”

Also addressing the opening session, IGAD Representative Simon Nyambura underscored the importance of this regional consultations: “For a number of years, countries of the IGAD have been trying to come up with a strategy that counters terrorism in the region in a holistic and coherent way and we are happy to see that UNDP and Japan are helping us in the formulation of this strategy. High-level delegates from a number of IGAD countries are present with us today which reflects the strong commitment by each country in the region to address violent extremism. In this regard, we also wish to thank the Government of Japan for its generous contribution of $250,000 to the process of developing this important strategy.”