Africa should do more to combat terrorists
What you need to know:
- Passing through airports in the West, I always get the feeling that as a black African, I am more of a suspected terrorist, drug trafficker, illegal immigrant, or some such undesirable person.
- Africa cannot afford to have terrorism become yet another of its negative identities, like disease, corruption, war, hunger, poverty, and impunity.
- If Africa does not unite on issues affecting it, it could become the natural host for terrorists as other continents make it difficult for criminals to operate there.
As the world consoled France after the deadly Paris attacks, a bomb strapped to a 10-year-old girl killed 17 people in Maiduguri, Nigeria, adding to the hundreds massacred that week in the restless north.
However, the world does not seem interested in getting involved in this conflict. Is terrorism a global menace or does it depend on where it occurs?
This indifference is not just where terrorism is concerned: the international community has often remained ambivalent in its response to calamities in Africa.
Rescue often comes late in the day, after the loss of many lives. Rwanda’s genocide is the most poignant example of this. The international community did not lift a finger despite information that a genocide was being planned and the massacre went on for three months as the world watched.
Compare this with the quick and massive global solidarity after the 2005 tsunami in Indonesia. Within days, the world was galvanised in channelling material and moral assistance.
Perhaps the consolation is that it is not just Africa that often fails to evoke such an overwhelming outpouring of support; when terrorists killed 145 school children in Pakistan recently, the global response was lukewarm. It seems the message is that so long as terrorism is not on Western soil, it is not important.
What are the possible consequences of this lack of interest in Africa’s terrorism problem? The menace could become localised, eventually becoming just another African label as jihadists find it easier to operate here. Africa risks becoming the main playground for terrorists, further isolating it from the rest of the world.
BLACK AFRICAN
Passing through airports in the West, I always get the feeling that as a black African, I am more of a suspected terrorist, drug trafficker, illegal immigrant, or some such undesirable person.
This fits well with the “Africa is fragile, insecure, failed states” narrative and systematically undermines the current “Africa is rising” story. And there are many who want to see the continent fail because then it becomes easier to cart out its resources.
Africa cannot afford to have terrorism become yet another of its negative identities, like disease, corruption, war, hunger, poverty, and impunity.
This begs the question: what must Africa do to counter terrorism? Unity of purpose is paramount. It is easy to chide the world for looking the other way when calamity befalls Africa, but there is the perennial question why Africa cannot collectively mobilise its resources to protect itself.
Where was the African Union (AU) during the Rwanda genocide? Where is the AU in Nigeria? Where is Kenya (it did a sterling job against the International Criminal Court, thank you), South Africa, Ethiopia, Ghana, and Senegal? These countries with some semblance of stability should marshal Africa to coalesce around its common problems.
Africa has the resources to fight terrorism; the problem is how both human and material resources are (mis)allocated. Nigeria is Africa’s biggest economy and can mobilise mind-boggling energy whenever it feels slighted internationally.
However, it seems impotent, or at best ambivalent, towards Boko Haram.
If Africa does not unite on issues affecting it, it could become the natural host for terrorists as other continents make it difficult for criminals to operate there.
Dr Mbataru teaches at Kenyatta University ([email protected])
