Minister Koenders (L) explained that the agreement does not entail military cooperation but will see sharing of intelligence, profiling and reintegration of immigrants/MUTHONI NJUKI
NAIROBI, Kenya, Apr 13 – Kenya and the Dutch Government have signed a declaration of intent to counter violent extremism in the two countries.
The pact signed by Foreign Affairs Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohamed and Dutch Foreign Minister Bert Koenders will largely focus on intelligence sharing, capacity building and de-radicalization.
“We have had longstanding and deep relations with the Kingdom of Netherlands. On counter-terrorism and support on de-radicalisation, we have had a strong relationship. Today we have witnessed the signing of a declaration of intent between the Foreign Ministry of the Kingdom of Netherlands and the National Counter Terrorism Centre of Kenya on cooperation in countering terrorism,” Mohamed said.
“This will entail sharing of information, building capacity, and sharing intelligence. This emphasizes and reaffirms the hope that working together we can overcome the threats of violent extremism.”
Minister Koenders explained that the agreement does not entail military cooperation but will see sharing of intelligence, profiling and reintegration of immigrants.
“The whole challenge of counter-terrorism and we both agree it requires security approach but also an approach of de-radicalisation, giving space to people, understanding what is happening and I am very happy we signed the declaration of intent,” he said.
He said the move signals, “the intent to work together to protect our democratic constitutional orders from attack by fanatical, illiberal ideologues seeking supporters or recruits for terrorism.”
“Practically, we are going to deploy a monitoring and evaluation system connected to County Action Plans particularly aimed at NGOs working on this issue.”
This will be linked to the Citizen Support Initiative which has just announced $5 million for NGOs working on countering radicalisation and recruitment-especially the ones working well with the Government.”
Koenders also urged Kenyans to also observe peace during this electioneering period, for the stability of the country to continue.
The two ministers also discussed on improving bilateral, political and trade engagements between the two countries.
“As a county, we continue to export fresh flowers to the Netherlands. In the health sector, Philips and Unilever Companies specifically have helped establish new Public Private Partnership platform that can be a model going forward to achieve universal healthcare and Sustainable Development Goals.”
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