First meeting of GCTF Working Group on counterterrorism capacity-building in the Sahel: Mr. Messahel calls for “rich, substantial and action-oriented discussions”
Experts argue in support of technical cooperation

El Moudjahid – November 17, 2011

“For counterterrorism to be complete and efficient, it needs to be directed at the pillars that hold and support it,” declared Minister Delegate for Maghreb and African Affairs Abdelkader Messahel in an address delivered yesterday at the Palais des Nations conference center in Algiers at the opening of the proceedings of the first meeting of the GCTF Working Group on counterterrorism capacity-building.

In his address, read on his behalf by his Chief of Staff Abdelaziz Sbaâ, Mr. Messahel called for a “fruitful fight” against terrorism and explained that the “pillars” he referred to include “proven connections to transnational organized crime, which act as the main source for financing of terrorist groups in our region.”

The working group, which Algeria co-chairs with Canada, reflects “awareness of the threats that hang over our region, including the threat of terrorism, transnational organized crime, and poverty,” the speaker added.
This meeting is convening in Algiers two months after the International Conference on Partnership, Security and Development, which gathered the countries of the Sahel region. Urging the experts attending the meeting, the speaker said they should use this meeting to create “a dynamic and a momentum which need to be sustained and strengthened.” More to the point, he said discussions need to be “rich, substantial, and action-oriented.”

In that respect, the minister underlined that one of the most important areas to focus on is capacity-building “which we view as a significant aggregate in mobilizing and improving national and regional capacities to combat terrorism.”

Addressing foreign participants, who provide extra-regional cooperation, Mr. Messahel recalled in his address that the countries of the Sahel, which are the most concerned with the threat of terrorism, “have developed a coherent regional strategy.”

For his part, the U.S. State Department’s Coordinator for Counterterrorism, Mr. Daniel Benjamin, argued in support of establishing the strongest possible cooperation. “We know that what can be adapted to one country cannot be for another one. We can, however, learn from one another as we work together to build the cooperation and capacity required to face terrorist threat in the region,” he said.

Similarly to Mr. Messahel, Mr. Benjamin underlined that “the terrorist threat has become more complex, due to certain changes occurring in the region, particularly in Libya.” Thanks to this working group, he said, he hoped “to have a better vision of the challenges facing capacity-building and priorities in the region and how to mobilize the expertise, resources and political will required to address them.”

Furthermore, the U.S. official recalled that the Global Counterterrorism Forum launched on September 22 in New York by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and the Turkish minister for Foreign Affairs is a new multilateral counterterrorism informal platform. The goal of counterterrorism, he said, is to identify critical civilian needs with regards to combating terrorism, mobilize the expertise and resources required to meet this kind of needs, and develop global cooperation.

Pursuing, he indicated that the United States intends to allocate some $100 million to combat this transnational phenomenon. Mr. Benjamin added that the United Arab Emirates intends to support and host an international excellence center devoted to combating violent extremism.

For her part, Ms. Sabine Nolke, director general of international security at the Canadian foreign ministry, insisted that “recognizing the issue is not enough. It is time to move now to an efficient and reliable technical cooperation.”
Ms. Nolke said that it is important to complete previous initiatives and “to speak openly about all challenges, using a language which needs to define precisely the cooperation needed.” She asked the leaders of the Sahel countries “to tell us what specific threats they face, so that we can determine what’s missing in international cooperation.”
Other addresses:

Major General Robin Searby, an advisor to the British prime minister on the fight against terrorism in North Africa and the Sahel: “Great Britain supports Algeria’s position on criminalization of ransom payment”
Francisco Caetano José Madeira, director of the African Centre for the Studies and Research on Terrorism: “There are reasons to be concerned” about the proliferation of weapons circulating in the Sahel region
Maiga Baba Hamane, technical advisor at the Malian ministry of Territorial Administration: We will defeat terrorism through development”
Salem Ali Othmane, acting Chargé d’Affaires at the Libyan embassy in Algiers: “Algeria’s help helps us build stability in Libya”
Rezzag-Bara, advisor to the President of the Republic: The Sahel must be a top-priority area for the whole international community”
Manuel Lopez Blanco, EU Coordinator for Sahel strategy: “Counterterrorism capabilities of the Sahel countries need to be strengthened”