Nigeria’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Ambassador Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu, has raised concern over the increasing use of new technologies by terrorist groups operating in Africa, warning that the trend is helping armed organisations expand their activities.
In a statement issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Friday, Odumegwu-Ojukwu said the groups were also financing their operations through transnational organised crime and illicit financial flows. She made the remarks at the opening of the Consultative Forum on Strengthening the Functional Performance of the African Union Peace and Security Architecture in Abuja.
The minister said the growing wave of terrorism on the continent required African countries to take greater responsibility for their own security. She called for a stronger, better-funded and more self-reliant African peace and security architecture capable of responding to evolving threats.
Odumegwu-Ojukwu urged African states to improve intelligence sharing, strengthen early warning systems and support African-led mediation efforts. She specifically called for reinforcement of the Continental Early Warning System, African mediatory initiatives and the African Peer Review Mechanism.
She also stressed the need to address local grievances, youth unemployment and community resilience as factors that can fuel insecurity. Building enduring national peace infrastructures and enhancing intelligence cooperation among African countries, she said, would improve the continent’s ability to respond to threats.
The minister highlighted the importance of rehabilitation and reintegration programmes for people affected by terrorism and encouraged greater use of the African Union Counter-Terrorism Centre to coordinate continental efforts.
On funding, Odumegwu-Ojukwu pressed for predictable financing of African Union-led peace operations. She called for the strengthening of the AU Peace Fund, complemented by international support, including from the United Nations. Implementation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 2719, she said, would help bolster peace support operations in Africa. She also urged the full operationalisation of the African Standby Force and regional standby forces.
The two-day forum is focusing on mediation and preventive diplomacy, early warning and response, counter-terrorism, and peace support operations. Odumegwu-Ojukwu expressed hope that it would produce practical recommendations to improve security coordination, strengthen funding for peace operations and build the capacity of African institutions.
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