EA states urged to cooperate on terror

Photo/FILE

Attorney General Amos Wako has urged countries in the East African region have been urged to increase counterterrorism cooperation due to a rise in threats from terror groups May 18, 2011

Countries in the East African region have been urged to increase counterterrorism cooperation due to a rise in threats from terror groups, especially with the killing of Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

Attorney General Amos Wako told anti-terrorism experts in Nairobi that the region was still vulnerable to possible attack due to increased Somalia militia Al Shabaab operations.

“As we have watched, with consternation, the increase and sophistication of terrorist activity in the world outside our region, we realise that we have to be vigilant to the real possibility of another terror attack,” said Mr Wako Wednesday at the Norfolk Hotel.

He added that terrorism was no longer a national or regional problem but one that requires a coordinated multi-lateral and comprehensive response on a global level.

Mr Wako was speaking when he opened a three-day training seminar organised by the Centre on Global Counterterrorism Cooperation and IGAD Capacity Building Programme Against Terrorism.

The seminar is designed to foster discussion on lessons learned on cooperation in response to terrorist attacks, specifically the 1998 Kenya/Tanzania Embassy bombings, the Kikambala/Paradise Hotel attack in 2002, and the 1998 Omagh (Northern Ireland) attack.

The conference has brought together 50 delegates from Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Sudan and Uganda.