China’s Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Dai Bing, called on Thursday, at the launch of the UN Joint Appeal on Counter-Terrorism in Africa, for Africa’s counter-terrorism efforts to be strengthened.
Mr. Dai Bing said that China welcomed the launch of the Joint Appeal, given that terrorism is a major threat to the African continent, and that it hoped this flagship initiative would promote synergy between UN agencies to help Africa meet the challenge of terrorism.
Dai called for efforts to strengthen counter-terrorism capabilities in Africa. Practice in many African countries has shown that building professional security institutions helps to fight terrorism and maintain stability.
China actively encouraged an open debate in the Security Council on capacity building in Africa in August last year. The Council then adopted a presidential statement, one of the key objectives of which was to support the strengthening of Africa’s security capabilities, as Mr. Dai noted.
“We hope that the joint appeal will help direct global counter-terrorism resources to Africa, with a focus on increasing support for capacity building”. He also urged efforts to tackle the root causes of terrorism.
Last February, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) published a report indicating that poverty and unemployment were the main reasons why people in the Sahel region join violent extremist organizations.
This finding also applies to other parts of Africa where terrorist activities are taking place. Mr. Dai expressed his hope that the projects planned under the appeal would help to improve the living conditions of people in poor regions and eliminate the root causes of conflict.