African leaders seek fund to fight militant groups
Tue Sep 2, 2014 5:53pm GMT
* Islamist groups waging insurgencies across Africa
* African leaders call for better intelligence sharing (Adds Islamic State
and al Qaeda rivalry seen in Africa)
By Drazen Jorgic and Edith Honan
NAIROBI, Sept 2 (Reuters) - African leaders proposed on Tuesday creating a
special fund to combat Islamist militant groups growing in strength from
Kenya to Nigeria.
African Union (AU) states announced the idea after Nairobi talks on a
problem highlighted on Tuesday by capture of a town in north-eastern Nigeria
by Boko Haram militants. Fighting killed scores of people, according to
security forces, and sent at least 5,000 fleeing.
A senior European Union official also told the summit that Islamic State's
gains in Iraq and Syria, where it controls vast swathes of territory, could
help set off a competition between it and al Qaeda to become the leading
Islamist militant group in Africa.
President Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya, where al Shabaab gunmen last September
killed 67 people in a raid on a shopping mall, said African countries should
stand together against the threat of Boko Haram and al Shabaab.
"No single state can tackle this threat alone," he said. "It is particularly
worrying in Africa today that terrorist organizations have grown both in
terms of number and capability."
Chad President Idriss Deby, who is chairperson of the AU Peace and Security
Council, said: "There is a proposal to establish a special fund to combat
terrorism."
But Deby, flanked by Kenyatta and Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan at a
news conference, gave no details about who would contribute to the fund or
how the money would be used.
Swathes of Africa has been ravaged by Islamist insurgencies, with the likes
of Boko Haram launching attacks in Nigeria and Cameroon, while Somalia's al
Qaeda-linked al Shabaab rebels have struck at targets in Kenya and Uganda.
The idea of the fund was mooted by Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta and would
be discussed at the next full AU summit.
Kenyatta said African states would have to increase their own spending on
security to curb the organised militant groups.
Many African countries, including Kenya and Nigeria, are key Western allies
in the global fight against Islamist militants and their security services
receive substantial training and support from the United States, Britain and
other donors.
The United States has said it is assessing whether al Shabaab leader Ahmed
Abdi Godane was killed in a U.S. airstrike in Somalia on Monday.
Saudi Arabia said it would contribute $10 million to the AU to fight
militant groups which have often taken advantage of porous borders and inept
police forces across the continent.
RIVALRY
The wealth and military might of Islamic State militants have led the United
States and others to view it as a threat capable of surpassing that once
posed by al Qaeda, which is seen as hobbled since the 2011 killing of its
founder Osama bin Laden.
African intelligence officials have said that they are concerned that
Islamists may be emboldened by the Islamic State's gains in the Middle East.
Gilles de Kerchove, the European Union's counter-terrorism coordinator, said
the Islamic State's strength could attract African Islamist militants in
search of funding and training.
"It's not only that ISIS might provide more money or resources," Kerchove
said. The two groups might also engage in a "competition for the
leadership," with al Qaeda using Africa as a staging ground to remain
relevant.
"It's a concern. I'm not saying it will happen," he said. (Editing by James
Macharia; editing by Ralph Boulton)