Combating a common threat
The terrorist attack on a shopping mall in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, on Saturday, killed scores and wounded more than 170. The Somali militant group al-Shabab has claimed responsibility for the attack, the most deadly in Kenya since the bombing of the
However, the attack should not be viewed as an isolated event. Al-Shabab carried out its first cross-border bomb attack in Kampala, the capital of Uganda, in 2010. But since Kenya sent troops into Somalia in October 2011 to help the Somali transitional government pursue al-Shabab militants, the group has repeatedly threatened attacks on Kenyan soil if Nairobi does not pull its troops out of Somalia.
After joining al-Qaeda in 2012, Somali al-Shabab has strengthened its collaboration with al-Qaeda in the Land of the Islamic Maghreb and the Boko Haram militants in Nigeria. The three African-Islamic extremist groups are seeking to combine with various anti-government forces at home and abroad to undermine domestic and regional peace and stability.
Collaboration among terrorist groups, and the growing scale and intensity of their attacks should sound an alarm, and African authorities should seek new cooperation strategies in response.
Meanwhile, relevant national and regional organisations need to strengthen their counter-terrorism cooperation and take measures to strengthen border management and control; intelligence gathering, screening and sharing; solving terrorist cases collectively; and improving preventive mechanisms at the national and regional level, so as to build a collective security network.
In addition, the international community bears the responsibility and obligation to provide practical and effective assistance to support the counter-terrorism efforts of African countries. This should include funds and technical guidance, equipment supply and personnel training, but also, more importantly, intelligence and information sharing.
No country can afford to stand idly by. The victims of the Nairobi attack were not only Kenyans, but also citizens from the US, the UK, France, Canada, China and other countries.
In China’s western border area, terrorism, separatism and extremism have been evident in two violent incidents this year. China’s legislature, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, adopted two pacts on anti-terrorism cooperation among the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation members in June. One is on procedures for organising joint anti-terrorism drills among SCO members, and the other is on procedures for carrying out joint anti-terrorism actions in the territory of SCO members. In July, China and Iran signed an agreement on security cooperation to combat terrorism and drug-related crimes. But more such collaborative efforts are needed to bring an end to the scourge of terrorism.
The attack in Nairobi has again shown that extremist organisations know no borders, and countries must work together and strengthen their cooperation to combat terrorism. The narrow-minded concept of not sharing counter-terrorism intelligence should be abandoned.
