NEW YORK – Friday, 22 September 2023 (APS) – Minister of Foreign Affairs and National Community Abroad Ahmed Attaf stressed Friday, in New York, the importance of adopting a new approach of fight against terrorism in Africa, pointing out Algeria’s role in this regard, especially as the President of the Republic Abdelmadjid Tebboune assumes the mission of coordinator of the continental efforts to fight against terrorism, violent extremism and the prevention from these scourges.
“Terrorism has become the first threat for peace and security in Africa. The latest developments have clearly shown that this threat has significantly decreased in other parts of the world, while it has exponentially increased in our continent, notably in the Sahel region,” said Attaf in an address made during the ministerial meeting of the African Union (AU) to discuss the increased terrorist threats facing recently the African countries and peoples.
“Drawing lessons from its bitter but also successful experience in the fight against this scourge, Algeria is firmly convinced that a two-pronged approach is essential to fight both against the signs of terrorism and its deep causes in the Sahel region and beyond it,” he said.
“In the face of a growing threat, we certainly need a new approach, a new commitment and an audacious action. The status quo is no more an option, neither a comfortable position,” he added.
In this respect, “Algeria has called to hold an international conference on the development in the Sahel as well as to create a new model for peace operations that is better adapted to the different contexts of the fight against terrorism,” he underlined.
Attaf underlined that the Sahel region, which is confronted to complex development challenges, being one of the poorest in the world, has recently become an “arc of fire,” from the Red Sea to the Atlantic Ocean. A zone which hosts currently most of the armed conflicts and crisis situations which continue to inflict unbearable sufferings to the civilian populations.