During a visit by a delegation from the Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate (CTED) to the new headquarters of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on 26 January 2015, both parties reaffirmed their commitment and cooperation to fight against terrorism through facilitation of technical assistance to Eastern African States in need.
“Terrorism poses grave threats to peace and security in Africa and CTED and IGAD should continue to work together to meet those new challenges,” said Deputy Executive Director Weixiong Chen during the visit.
Radicalization and violent extremism that lead to terrorism, foreign terrorism fighters including young returnees from Al-Shabaab in Somalia, as well as use of the Internet for terrorist activities are some of the challenges faced by IGAD countries.
IGAD and CTED exchanged views on further cooperation in terms of information sharing, participation in each other’s counter-terrorism activities, and reaching out to the donor community and recipient States for capacity-building programmes. Empowering women through counter-terrorism endeavours was also emphasised, including the role of women in the prevention of terrorism.