African Leaders Meet as Nigerian Bomb Highlights Islamist Threat
By Pauline Bax
Jun 26, 2014 8:33 AM GMT+0200
African leaders meet in Equatorial Guinea today after a deadly bombing in
Nigeria's capital yesterday and attacks in Kenya this month highlighted the
growing threat posed by Islamist militants in the region.
Nigerian President <
http://topics.bloomberg.com/goodluck-jonathan/>
Goodluck Jonathan, South African President
<
http://topics.bloomberg.com/jacob-zuma/> Jacob Zuma and Egyptian President
Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi will join dozens of other heads of state at an African
Union summit in the capital, Malabo. While "Agriculture and Food Security"
is the official theme of the meeting, the increasing violence will probably
dominate talks.
"Radicalization, counterterrorism and security would be the things they will
talk about, considering what's happening with Nigeria and what's happened
recently in Kenya," <
http://topics.bloomberg.com/alex-vines/> Alex Vines,
head of the Africa Program at <
http://topics.bloomberg.com/chatham-house/>
Chatham House in London, said by phone. "The situation in the Sahel remains
important as well," he said, referring to militants in the desert region of
West Africa.
The militant group Boko Haram has wiped out entire villages and killed
hundreds of people this year in northern
<
http://topics.bloomberg.com/nigeria/> Nigeria, the continent's biggest oil
producer. Al-Shabaab, the al-Qaeda-linked Somali militia, killed more than
67 people in an attack on a mall in Kenya's capital, Nairobi, in September
and claimed responsibility for more shootings at the East African nation's
coast last week in which at least 60 people died.
Boko Haram, which means "western education is a sin," sparked international
outrage in April when it abducted more than 200 schoolgirls in northeastern
Nigeria and threatened to force them into marriage or sell them on markets.
The U.S., the U.K. and France have offered technology and advisers to help
find the girls.
Kenyan Politics
The attacks in Kenya have led foreign countries to issue advisories against
traveling there, denting the country's tourism industry. President Uhuru
Kenyatta said the violence this month was organized by local politicians and
ruled out a terrorist attack, even after al-Shabaab said they were
responsible.
African leaders already met in Paris,
<
http://topics.bloomberg.com/pretoria/> Pretoria and
<
http://topics.bloomberg.com/accra/> Accra, Ghana this year to discuss a
strategy to combat militant groups on the continent. Kenyan Foreign
Secretary Amina Mohamed on June 24 called for joint action by African
nations, including increased sharing of intelligence and measures to curb
the supply of weapons, to combat militants.
"It is not enough to just condemn without following it with actions aimed at
stemming terrorism wherever it may be found," Mohamed said. "A lot more
commitment is needed especially resources to fight it."
New Leaders
Today's summit will be the first for <
http://topics.bloomberg.com/egypt/>
Egypt's president and Guinea Bissau's leader, Jose Mario Vaz. Egypt was
suspended in July after the military removed former President Mohamed Mursi.
Vaz was elected earlier this month.
Equatoguinean President Teodoro Nguema Obiang, who has been in power since
1979 and is Africa's longest-serving leader, first hosted the summit in
2011, when AU leaders called for an end to the North Atlantic Treaty
Organization's bombing campaign in Libya. The AU preferred to negotiate a
transition with supporters of former leader
<
http://topics.bloomberg.com/muammar-qaddafi/> Muammar Qaddafi, which was
rebuffed by the U.S. and Britain.
"The failure to provide a <
http://topics.bloomberg.com/united-front/>
united front and practical means to stabilize Libya in the post-Qaddafi era
was a lost opportunity for the AU to gain credibility in Africa and on the
global stage," Charles Laurie, head of Africa research at Bath,
England-based risk consultancy Maplecroft, said in e-mailed response to
questions.
An influx of weapons and war-hardened fighters from Libya after Qaddafi's
death in 2012 fueled a rebel invasion in
<
http://topics.bloomberg.com/mali/> Mali that was halted by French air
strikes last year.
The AU summit will be held in a 580 million-euro ($791 million) resort built
for the 2011 summit that can be reached by a six-lane highway that bypasses
Malabo. Advocacy groups including
<
http://topics.bloomberg.com/human-rights-watch/> Human Rights Watch have
accused Obiang of enriching the ruling elite, while neglecting the
population of 700,000.
Received on Thu Jun 26 2014 - 09:38:05 EDT