President
Goodluck Jonathan on Wednesday said world leaders have the collective
responsibility of identifying sponsors and supporters of terror groups,
such as Boko Haram in Nigeria and other groups operating in the Sahel
region.
He said such people should be held responsible for their actions aimed at destabilising Africa.
Jonathan made his position known in his
remarks on peace and security at the opening of the on-going Fourth
European Union-Africa Summit holding in Brussels, the capital of
Belgium.
The summit brought together the Heads of
State and Government of the EU and the African continent together with
the EU and AU institutions.
The EU was represented at the summit,
which has “Investing in people, prosperity and peace” as its theme, by
the President of the European Council, Herman Van Rompuy and President
of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso.
While thanking the EU and other
development partners for their assistance in addressing the menace of
the terror groups, Jonathan insisted that a terror attack on one nation
was an attack on everybody.
He said, “The weapons of choice of these terror groups are the Small Arms and Light Weapons.
“Of recent, they have acquired the rapid
propelled grenades and even surface-to-air missiles. Where do they get
these sophisticated weapons? The total value of what these terrorists
possess as individuals, in terms of what they wear, where they live
cannot buy an assault rifle.
“We all have the collective
responsibility to unearth their sponsors and supporters who are
determined to destabilise Africa. We should hold them responsible and
accountable for their actions.”
The President said the issue of peace and
security called for a holistic and integrated approach, as peace and
development were two sides of the same coin.
Jonathan said it was based on the
importance that Nigeria attached to the issue that he organised a summit
on “Human Security, Peace and Development: An Agenda for the 21st
Century” during Nigeria’s centenary.
He said the summit resolved, in part,
that all countries must continue to strengthen existing mechanisms for
national and international conflict management, and create new avenues
for co-operation within and between peoples and nations.
Jonathan recalled that since 2000, the
African Union had demonstrated sustained desire for the development of
collective security arrangement among its member states and its regional
economic communities.
He said the countries had established a
security management system and the codification of standards within
Africa’s peace and security architecture.
This, he said, included the Peace and
Security Council, a continental early — warning system, the Panel of the
Wise and the African Standby Force.
He said the union had also subscribed to
modalities and action plans to confront these challenges and new threat
of piracy in some maritime boundaries and curb the menace of oil theft.
In addition to these initiatives, the
President said there were organs within the AU with mandates to
strengthen the peace and security architecture.
He described the coming into force of the
African Charter on Democracy, Election and Government, as a legally
binding instrument to further reaffirm the continent’s collective
resolve at outlawing unconstitutional change of government in Africa.
He added, “Notwithstanding these
initiatives, new and emerging threats that necessitate concerted and
holistic focus have emerged. These include political conflicts that
threaten hard-won peace and democracies, and worse still, the phenomenon
of piracy and terrorism.
“In the face of these new threats and
challenges, the Peace and Security Architecture needs to be strengthened
and the African Standby Force needs to be fully operationalised.
“We need to give stronger impetus to
capacity building and logistical support to boost Africa’s capability
and preparedness to take pre-emptive steps to contain conflict
situations, quell violence and deal with the scourges of terrorism.”
PUNCHNG
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