- Africa is increasingly coming under the threat of terrorism and religious extremism
- Interpol called on Afripol to push for cooperation agreements and address obstacles that hinder cooperation.
Kenya has called on countries to cooperate in sharing information to address the menace of transnational organised crime.
Interior CS Fred Matiang'i said Kenya is cooperating with international partners to fight the menace hence the need for all to join.
The CS called on governments to collaborate in developing border management protocols to better identify shared priorities and to plan for appropriate strategies.
He said they should collaborate in areas which are essential to the facilitation of legitimate trade and lawful flow of people while closing the doors to criminals and their criminal elements.
Matiang'i said African governments are grappling with a variety of entrenched cross-border crimes such as drug and human trafficking, small arms trade, theft of motor vehicles, livestock rustling among others.
He said governments are also increasingly being called to action against threats posed by emerging and complex crimes such as money laundering, cybercrime, mobile phone fraud, identity-theft, phishing scams.
Other crimes involve trade in counterfeits, kidnapping, trafficking of prohibited and endangered wildlife products, pyramids and related phony investment schemes among others.
“Partnerships such as Afripol and Interpol are essential to combat shared security threats. Sharing intelligence, advanced training and harmonisation of border-monitoring policies," the Interior CS said.
"It is necessary for partner states to progressively review and retool security policies and doctrines to match arising need.”
He made the remarks when he opened the tenth Afripol steering committee meeting in Nairobi.
Also in attendance was Interpol president Ahmed Nasser Al-Raisi and Inspector General of Police Hilary Mutyambai.
The CS said Africa is increasingly coming under the threat of terrorism and religious extremism.
“Our nations are nursing the ripple effect of traditional geopolitical leanings and international disputes including the war in Ukraine. Terror networks are often international in nature.”
He said the Covid-19 pandemic and, to a lesser extent, the outbreaks of Ebola, have taught Africa the reality of non- traditional sources to national and regional insecurity.
“The cross-border pressure posed by Corona for instance has served vital lessons on why security agencies must also collaborate in planning for the unforeseeable,” he said.
Matiang'i said investments in infrastructure including roads, rail, air transport, internet and telecommunication and the easing of restrictions on cross-border travel is encouraging faster and frequent interaction.
“Growth in cross- border crime statistics attest to these investments also supporting international crime by making it easier for perpetrators and their networks to operate across borders.”
The CS said combating international crime is an expensive undertaking and that rising transnational crime and the complex nature of some obliges governments to allocate more resources to security budgets.
Spending more in intelligence gathering, policy reforms, costly equipment and more officers for strategic deployment has become inevitable, he argued.
He said Kenya is keen to operationalise Afripol and so far has an office at Nairobi National Central Bureaus DCI Headquarters.
“We will continue working closely with our neighbours to better protect our citizens.”
He argued regional security pacts should be at the core of the drive for greater pan-African integration.
“Security is a critical trade enabler. The promotion of cross-border business must incorporate well-thought out and implemented measures to combat crime,” he said.
Recently,Matiang'i said, the UN launched the Regional Counter-terrorism office in Nairobi. Synergising the activities of these bodies and strengthening existing bonds is desirable.
He told the participants to consider a strong regional cooperation through building a strong network of law enforcement agencies in the region.
They will provide consistent and continuing cooperation for responses.
He said it is also incumbent upon the partners to create and provide training focusing on seamless, unified responses to large multi- jurisdictional incidents by relying on defined collaborative guidelines.
“We must step up our collaboration and ensure coordination of responses that support shared objectives while respecting the policies and missions of individual agencies.”
The CS told the security chiefs to continuously engage each other to adopt best practices, and encourage clearly understood, uniform language.
“One guiding principle that serves as a secret to success for a police leader is to ask others for best practice examples," he said.
"The purpose of the cooperation is to support the efforts of the Member States on the African continent to respond to evolving security threats and to promote the rule of law and human security.”
The Interpol boss called on Afripol to push for cooperation agreements and address obstacles that hinder cooperation.
“Africa needs to up game because of its 1.6 billion population as compared South American states which play a bigger role,” said al-Raisi.
He called on digitisation of police systems, disintegration of police data and enhanced leadership to address all forms of threats.
Mutyambai who is the current chairman of Afripol pledged partnership in addressing threats.
(Edited by Francis Wadegu)