Combating Terrorism: Police Chiefs Build Cohesive Strategies

A two-day conference of police chiefs in West and Central Africa opens today 10 October, 2017 in Yaounde

The growing wave of terrorist activities taking place across Africa with an international ramification has continued to keep police chiefs on the alert. Meeting on the initiative of the International Organisation of Criminal Police, OICP-INTERPOL, 24 officials of the police departments across West and Central Africa and the General Secretariat of the INTERPOL are not only out to examine the level of violence created by the organised gangs of terrorists, but also put in place efficient strategies to better tackle the phenomenon.
Be it the Boko Haram extremist sect in the Lake Chad Basin area, the Al-Qaida in the localities of Mali and other West African States or other groups like the AQMI and the IS, the destruction being caused to human life and the threats that the cults keep perpetrating have been so nefarious that no one can remain indifferent any longer. Addressing the United Nations General Assembly on 22 September, 2017 in New York, President Paul Biya pointed out that the Boko Haram extremists have taken away over 2000 lives in the Lake Chad Basin, obliging Cameroon to harbour some 350,000 refugees and thousands of internally displaced persons. Thus, families and society, at large, have been victims of jihadists in search of an ideology that defies all civilised human values and the extent of their damage is such that neither a country nor continent can claim to be free of such dangerous influences.
With the international spread of such criminal activities, the Yaounde conference which has as theme; “Fight Against Terrorism in Central And West Africa” will among other issues look at information-sharing for an efficient response to a menace that cuts across national boundaries. Speaking in an interview in Cameroon Tribune yesterday 9 October, 2017, the Central Africa Regional chief of Bureau for INTERPOL, Michel Koua said they will also inform Police Chiefs of Central and West Africa about anti-terrorism strategies being put in place by the international body to help countries of the sub-regions fight back and keep their borders safe.
Issues like the legal frameworks to fight terrorism, exchange of information on terrorism trends, exchange of related data and intelligence gathering techniques have bee...