Statement by Ambassador James Kariuki at the UN Security Council
debate on counter-terrorism
Thank you President, and thank you for convening this important
meeting today, consistent with your personal leadership on peace
and stability to drive the Maputo Peace Accords.
The co-ordinated response to the conflict in Northern Mozambique
that you secured demonstrates the importance of regional
collaboration to stem the spread of terrorism. I also thank the
Secretary-General and AU Chair, President Assoumani, for their
briefings.
President, as we have heard, the terrorist threat is increasingly
transnational and opportunistic, exploiting existing tensions in
society. So the international community’s response needs to make
the most of all of our expertise and capacity, adapted to
different regional contexts as necessary. Let me highlight three
priorities.
First, the UK is committed to regional security and intelligence
cooperation on the continent of Africa and around the world. We
encourage collaboration between the United Nations, the African
Union, and Regional Economic Communities, including in mission
settings. As with UN and AU-led operations, REC-led missions must
have robust compliance and accountability measures, not least to
ensure that they do not feed the terrorists’ own narratives. We
recognise the challenges of resourcing and sustaining such
operations. We look forward to constructive discussions about how
this could be improved following the SG’s upcoming report on
UN-AU financing.
Second, as we work to cut off the funding of terrorism, we
encourage greater use of UN sanctions regimes on the continent of
Africa, whilst ensuring continued delivery of humanitarian
assistance to states responding to crises. We deeply value our
cooperation with regional partners on the 751 Al Shabaab
sanctions regime, we have used this to continue tightening the
knot on Al Shabaab, including through sponsoring the designation
of individuals associated with the group.
Third, we welcome, and endorse, calls for counter terrorism
efforts to be holistic, not just military-focussed. As we review
the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy, we are clear that
Counter-Terrorism and Counter Violent Extremism efforts must
uphold the protection of human rights, the inclusion of civil
society, and the meaningful participation of women, in order to
be effective. The UK is working closely with partners across
Africa to strengthen security cooperation. In Kenya, for example,
the UK funded the establishment of the Anti-Terrorism Police
Unit’s headquarters in Mombasa, as part of our $8.6 million a
year investment to support Kenya’s CT efforts. We also worked
with national and county government, civil society and
communities to reduce the vulnerability of 800 at-risk Kenyans to
radicalisation.
President, in areas of instability, the Wagner Group is part of
the problem, not the solution. For example, in Mali and the
Central African Republic, we cannot ignore the destabilising role
of the Wagner group as they exploit conflict and governance
deficits to suck resources out of Africa where it is sorely
needed, contributing to environments in which terrorism can
thrive.
President, we look forward to the Africa Counter-Terrorism Summit
in Abuja in October as a chance to strengthen further our
cooperation on this important subject.
