On October 7th, Foreign Affairs Minister, Nasser Bourita, chaired the 1111th ministerial meeting of the AU Peace and Security Council on “Development and Deradicalization as Levers to Counter Terrorism and Violent Extremism.” This meeting is Morocco’s first during its chairmanship of the AU Peace and Security Council for October 2022.
Nasser Bourita stated that “there was an significant attendance on the ministerial level, 8 ministers were present from different countries: Tunisia, South Africa, Tanzania…” and 12 out of the 15 member states of the Peace and Security Council were in attendance.
The ministerial meeting was followed by a press conference during which Minister Nasser Bourita touched on the topics discussed, with a focus on terrorism and violent extremism, their devastating effects, and the urgent need to rise above these challenges.
Illustrating his point with numbers, he stated that Africa is home to 50% of all terrorist acts perpetrated in the world, with 7,000 terrorist operations and 30,000 victims.
“Africa has at least 27 terrorist group that are present in the UN lists. Africa, today, is the second place where terrorist operations happen in the world. This means that we are talking about a very important topic that has effects on security and stability, on the victims, but also on the economy,” he said.
The Minister went on to highlight the economic cost of terrorism stating that during the last ten years, it was multiplied by 9, amounting to more than 170 billion dollars.
The link was established between terrorism and separtatism, with Bourita describing them as “two sides of the same coin.” With 19 separatist groups active in different places in Africa, the Foreign Affairs Minister stated that “what deepens this issue of terrorism is this rapprochment, this alliance, that exists between separatism and terrorism.”
Nasser Bourita stated that the Peace and Security Council of the AU will meet next week, its second session around the theme of “Climate Change and its impacts on peace and security. This meeting will be held as a prelude to the COP27, scheduled to take place in Egypt in Sharm el-Sheikh from 6 to 18 November 2022.
Bourita stated that “Morocco sees that, in addition to its economic and environmental effects, climate change is today an issue that threatens the security and peace and has a direct effect on stability in the African continent which is why a second ministerial meeting will be held for this issue to unite the African continent’s vision in terms of the effects of climate change on security and peace in the African continent.”