African Union

Combatting Terrorism in Eastern Central Africa

by Anne-Marie Barnes

The African Union being graced with two honourable chairs; Mr. Aniruddh Rajendran and Miss Nefeli Despoina Gkaroutsou was privileged to be joined by countries like The Democratic Republic of Congo, Zimbabwe, Ethiopia, Central African Republic, South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya, who briefly introduced themselves and expressed how elated they were to be at the conference, with the last two countries being received by all delegates after an apology for ‘being late to the party’.

Beginning the conference with an opening speech was the Delegate of Ethiopia who made known its aim to bring greater stability amongst African nations to mitigate terrorism and made known their commitment to fighting terrorism in Africa. Zimbabwe being given the baton also made known its commitment to the idea of African nations working together to provide prosperity and vigilance, addressed issues of terrorism, corruption and disease in their country and other African nations at large whiles calling for the unity and support of other nations in their endeavour.

The race, continued by Central African Republic (C.A.R) also made known regions of eastern and central Africa had been stuck in constant conflict for years while acknowledging social injustice, corruption and threat to democracy as the reasons behind terrorism.

Ending the race was the Democratic Republic of Congo (D.R.C) who made known once again how elated they were to be present and delved into the topic of the day giving delegates one more reminder of how terrorism has covered the world, stating, “The continent has become the bed of terrorism worldwide”. They again made it known to all that, to combat the menace; terrorism, all represented countries must work in conjunction for absolute results.

Going through to the heat of a debate, the delegate of Zimbabwe called for an unmoderated caucus of 10mins to discuss each countries stance on Central Eastern Africa which was accepted by all delegates. The Delegation of Zimbabwe stated that, the biggest plight in Africa is the fact that many valuable resources are given and utilized by foreigners, with citizens of such African countries not making any profit was one factor that encouraged terrorism and called for all resources and proceeds to be given back to the people for development. Delegation of Ethiopia agreed on this stance made stating it was a good point made however, they believed “if there has to be any change made, focus has to be made on the government as most terrorist activities is due to a weak government” and pleaded with African countries to duly govern itself to combat terrorism before resources can be addressed. Delegation of Zimbabwe agreed to the stance made by Ethiopia and suggested the creation of an Anti-corruption Unit and Council be made where, the AU can chair and regulate terrorist activities and corruption. The Delegation asked all delegates of their interest to join this cause to help combat terrorism which had D.R.C and C.A.R. agreeing to the ways and motives of combatting terrorism projected by the Delegation of Zimbabwe and Ethiopia with the Delegation of Ethiopia chipping in that, “focus should not be placed only on the government but also on the people as a whole as attacks made on small villages for example leads to the displacement of people who are only given tents and a number of years of care as refugees” and asked delegates to also “think about the population that lives the consequences of terrorist activities”

Mr. Aniruddh asking if there were any resolutions, motions or have the unmoderated caucus extended was interrupted by the Delegation of Zimbabwe who made a plea to have a 10minutes extension of the unmoderated caucus.

The Delegation of Zimbabwe being given the floor addressed the discussions made as a belief of all delegates seeking the same mission of caring for the African continent and its people. Delegation of Ethiopia backed this view with the belief that “every member state has to take the responsibility to make this work; where we get to the point of stabilizing a broken government”. D.R.C also agreeing to points made by the Delegation of Zimbabwe made clear its belief of coming to together to fight towards the cause as “just one tree does not make up a forest”. C.A.R. rowing the boat of mutual agreements stated its belief of autocracy and authoritarian leadership being the root cause of terrorist activities on their nation and expressed its readiness to collaborate with other African countries and International Organisations to help eradicate the activity.

The Delegation of Zimbabwe being given the floor by Miss Nefeli suggested again a plan be made to help combat terrorism and its threats; “find a solution to build the economic structure of the African continent” and suggested all countries propose ideas that can be in clauses or sub-clauses to help solve the issue, which were the last views made before all delegates went on a short break.

Dressed sharply and showcasing their country’s flag was the Delegation of Nigeria who joined the conference after all delegates were back from the short break. Seeing how enthused the Delegate of Nigeria was to address the matter of terrorism as it is one major problem their country daily handles, all delegates had no option than to accept the apology from the Delegation.

Before the continuation of the unmoderated caucus of 15minutes, called on by the Delegation of Zimbabwe which was agreed on by all delegates, Mr. Aniruddh addressed certain points like the presence of the Nigerian Delegation and the need of all delegates to amend Clause 6 which stipulated “The deployment of troops in various countries” to make note that, “Troops are dependent on the Peace Council of the AU and their protocols thus protocols of the AU must be followed to ensure deployment of troops to Africa and emphasized that, “if funding of troops has to be made, the structure of the AU must be followed”.

With delegates amending their clauses after the notification from the Chair, the Delegation of Kenya joined the conference.

Following the amendments made, with the Delegation of C.A.R cautioning the Delegation of Zimbabwe on its improper use of punctuations; not using the period sign in amendments till discussions are over, the Chair once again notified delegates that standards of protocol in discharging of troops should be added to clauses after this point of information was made by the Delegation of Zimbabwe.

Mr. Anirudhh then called on for any motions to be introduced or additional clauses be made to which the Delegation of Kenya motioned to discuss a resolution to the unmoderated caucus, to which the Chair agreed on.

The Delegation of Kenya following the Delegation of Nigeria on apologies to the Chair and fellow delegates stated its moral apprehension of terrorism as in 2019, a large number of its citizens lost their lives and offered concessions on the deliberation of the matter. The Delegation of Nigeria expressing its commitment to the resolution stated its familiarity with terrorism and how their government has put the popular terrorist group; Boko Haram (BH) under surveillance and stated its continuous cooperation to “see to it that terrorist groups are not given room to act”.

Following the Delegation of Nigeria’s speech was on a slap on their cheek by the Delegation of C.R.C who questioned the Delegation of Nigeria on what ways it was going to help stop terrorist groups from acting when they are still finding ways of combatting their activities in their country, to which the Delegation of Nigeria referred the Delegation of Congo on its success stories of the release of abducted girls taken into hostage by the BH group, reduction in cases of terrorist activities as well less people being motivated to join the terrorist group.

The Delegation of Kenya changing the direction of the discussion between the Delegation of Nigeria and Congo motioned to move into general speech which was highly voted on by fellow delegates having the motion passed by the Chair.

Passing the floor to other delegates, the Delegate of Kenya once again motioned to make an amendment to Clause 8 as it saw it to be vague and received support the Delegation of Nigeria on its motion.

Having the moderated caucus end, and the voting procedure of amendment beginning, guests (Observer and Press) moved out of the conference were received again and a majority of votes on the entire resolution, had the resolution pass!

Delegates at the conference left with new alliances and ideas to help combat terrorism in their respective countries and other African countries as a whole but also left with ‘all their hands on deck’ as they all agreed to go on a full and long term commitment to work together to combat the virus; terrorism from spreading and all Delegates who were early to the conference thanking the Delegation of Ethiopia for its hard work that helped pass the forum in a quick pace.

Delegates having passed a quick resolution went on to tackle the topic for the second day; “Effects of Covid-19 in South Africa” to which the Delegation of Zimbabwe and Central African Republic shared their views on the matter. Receiving insightful and thought provoking comments from delegates, we cannot wait to officially begin the second discussion topic and have our readers informed on the twists and turns in our space!