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Kenya to host Africa meeting on terrorism

President Kenyatta opened the 16th East Africa Police Chiefs Co-operation Organization (EAPCCO) annual general meeting on Wednesday.

President Kenyatta opened the 16th East Africa Police Chiefs Co-operation Organization (EAPCCO) annual general meeting on Wednesday.

NAIROBI Kenya, Aug 28 – Kenya will on Tuesday next week host the Africa Union Peace and Security Council Summit on Terrorism, to be attended by a number of Heads of State and Government from the continent.

The summit comes as the country continues to face security challenges emanating from various terrorist attacks and the continued threat from Somalia’s Al-Shabaab terror group which has vowed to continue with the trend until the Kenya Defence Forces move out of Somalia.

Nairobi and Mombasa have been the worst hit by the attacks which have left a number of lives lost and properties destroyed.
The summit will come just days after Kenya hosts the East Africa Police Chiefs Co-operation Organisation Annual General Meeting where issues of terrorism were extensively discussed.

When he opened the meeting on Wednesday, President Uhuru Kenyatta challenged regional police chiefs to consolidate their efforts in combating terrorism and other crimes. He said victory in the war against crime will be realised faster if police forces in the East African region worked in solidarity and mustered self-belief.

Nothing that in the last five years the region has seen a rise in terrorism, drug trafficking, money laundering and crimes against the environment, President Kenyatta said efforts must be scaled up to defeat the vices.

On August 7, US President Barack Obama said the US would continue to help build the capacity of Kenya’s security services and better equip them to deal with the problem of Al Shabaab and other security threats.

His support was also extended to other African states during the US-Africa leader’s summit.

They include Niger, Mali, Nigeria, Ghana and Tunisia to begin with.

“We’re launching a new security governance initiative to help our African countries continue to build strong, professional security forces to provide for their own security,” Obama reported to the press after meetings with the African heads of states who attended the US-Africa Leaders Summit in Washington DC.

“Most importantly,” Obama announced that the US was entering into a, “rapid response partnership,” with six African countries who had, “demonstrated a track record as peace keepers.”

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The partnership with Ghana, Senegal, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Rwanda and Uganda was entered into with the goal of, “quickly deploying African peace keepers in support of UN or AU missions,” in mind, Obama said calling on countries, “beyond Africa,” to support the effort.

As regards the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), Obama said the US would be supplying them with additional equipment as it would in the war ravaged Central African Republic.

During the summit, President Uhuru Kenyatta had complained of the international community’s abandonment of Kenya in the war against terror.

“Kenya is involved in anti-terrorism cooperation with many regional and international partners. Among our stalwart allies in these efforts is the United States,” he said in a reversal of, “We do feel the world isn’t doing enough to support us in confronting the challenges we have,” which he said in an interview with CNN’s Richard Quest.

 

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