AU Urges Cross-Border Action as Terrorist Threats Spread Across Africa

African Union officials have called for stronger cross-border cooperation as armed groups, terrorist organisations and criminal networks exploit gaps in border governance across several parts of the continent.

The appeal came during an open session of the African Union Peace and Security Council (PSC) in New York on the margins of the 81st Session of the United Nations General Assembly. The meeting, chaired by Benin’s Foreign Affairs Minister Corinne Amori Brunet, examined good neighbourliness and regional responses to security and terrorism challenges.

AU Commission Chairperson Mahmoud Ali Youssouf pointed to Somalia, the Sahel, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo and northern Mozambique as areas where porous borders and limited state presence can provide opportunities for armed and criminal networks.

He identified recruitment and indoctrination of young people, exploitation of social inequalities, extortion, human and drug trafficking, and illicit financing as among the activities used by these networks.

Youssouf said national responses alone cannot deal effectively with threats operating across jurisdictions. He called for closer coordination between African states, regional economic communities and regional mechanisms, particularly through intelligence-sharing, institutional preparedness, exchange of experience and measures to prevent radicalisation.

Benin’s Brunet said security cooperation should continue even when neighbouring countries face political tensions. She called for timely exchanges of information as well as security and judicial cooperation, while maintaining legitimate cross-border trade and other community ties.

She also urged governments to involve people living in border communities in efforts to prevent tensions, including ensuring meaningful participation by women in peace and security decisions.

The PSC chairperson said existing continental frameworks provide a basis for stronger cooperation, citing the African Union Border Programme and the Niamey Convention on Cross-Border Cooperation. She argued that the priority should be to connect and operationalise these mechanisms rather than establish parallel structures.

UN Assistant Secretary-General for Africa M. Kimani similarly called for good neighbourliness to be translated into practical measures, including joint action, intelligence-sharing, early-warning systems, harmonised legal frameworks and stronger efforts against terrorist financing and organised crime.

Kimani said transnational security threats require cooperation across borders, with border areas serving not only as points of vulnerability but also as channels for peace, trade, security and shared prosperity.

Source: FSX Business News