By Saio Marrah
Sierra Leone Parliamentarian, Saa Emerson Lamina, has in the just concluded African, Caribbean and Pacific/European Union (ACP/EU) Joint Parliamentary Assembly (JPA) session called for global cooperation to tackle terrorism.
The JPA is a unique and permanent democratic institution which brings together an equal number of elected Members of Parliament from the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) states and Members of the European Parliament.
He said at the 42nd Session in Maputo, Mozambique on Tuesday 1st November, 2022, that the need to combat terrorism is dire.
Lamina said:" Terrorism in sub Saharan Africa is a threat to Africa that continues to pose severe consequences on the peace, stability and security of our continent. “
He pointed out that the threat to terrorism has now been compounded by the radical attachments of terrorist cells with organized crime. This he said include human, drug and arms trafficking gangs.
The Sierra Leone lawmaker noted that they are widely spread across the continent necessitated by Africa's porous and poorly controlled frontiers.
Lamina also told the JPA that internal politics and regional power play are nurturing the acute state of insecurity in sub Saharan Africa. He said the state of insecurity is also adversely affecting the stability of the socioeconomic development trajectories of States on the Continent.
Lamina’s submission had been earlier backed by Mozambique’s President, Fillipe Nyusi, who during the opening session condemned terrorism and terrorist activities in Africa.
The Sierra Leone parliamentarian thus suggested that terrorism, like climate change, the COVID-19 pandemic and now the Russian-Ukraine war, have a guiding thread that inter-links the global crises.
He said it therefore required global cooperation and multilateralism among equals to adequately address those global menaces.
Lamina made series of recommendations such as strengthening bilateral and regional cooperation to maintain the region’s peace, security and socioeconomic development.
Developing an integrated anti-terrorism approach by governments, regional organizations and the international community, as well as bolstering judicial cooperation and the monitoring of illicit financial flows within the ACP regions,were among his other recommendations.
He also recommended that for ACP/EU countries should engage in intelligence- sharing and coordination as cornerstone of an integrated strategy to ensure intelligence-guided operations that will blacklist perpetrators.
Lamina also called for the implementation and enforcement of a Sub Saharan Arrest Warrant for cross-border perpetrators in order to deprive them of safe havens and easy access to financial resources.
For this he expressed condolences to the peoples of Chad, Somalia, Mali, Burkina Faso and Ivory Coast whom he said have suffered terrorist attacks in recent times.
The MP re-echoed the need for a global partnership and strategy alignments to address what he called callous method of addressing grievances associated with politics, as “inhuman."
The Sierra Leone lawmaker also used the opportunity to emphasise the call and endorsement of President Julius Maada Bio's bid for Sierra Leone's Non-Permanent Member Status at the UN Security Council.
According to him, the country deserves such endorsement considering her roles in the global peace architecture framework. Lamina said this is especially given the country's quantum leap in the areas of stability at home and ensuring peace and stability at the global stage.
"Sierra Leone's ascension to this feat will deservedly place President Bio in the ranks of former President Olusegun Obansanjo of Nigeria, former President John Jerry Rawlings of Ghana and current President Muhammadou Buhari of Nigeria, who were one-time military officers but were democratically elected to serve their respective peoples within the realm of democracy and good governance,” he said.
Copyright © 2022 Politico Online (04/11/22)
