Regional Security Agencies to Strengthen Cross Border Counter Terrorism Operations

Security agencies of East African countries have agreed to strengthen their capacities in the fight against terrorism and other forms organised crime in the region.

The development was reached at a recent meet of Directors of Counter Terrorism agencies from four EAC countries, that is Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Democratic republic of Congo.

From Kenya’s capital Nairobi, members agreed on enhancing CT capacity with intelligence and technology enhancement.

In this effort, countries worked together ahead of field operations sharing intelligence and national watch lists, to identify hubs to target for criminal activity or travel.

According to regional law enforcement bodies, there will be access to INTERPOL’s databases and secure global police communications system (I-24/7) in key strategic locations, front line officers in the four countries will be trained and equipped with the intelligence required to stop known criminals in their tracks.

“Insecure borders nurture the growth of local and regional terrorism, so operations like Simba II build resilience by boosting the skills required to recognize the trends and tackle them holistically,” said Director of Kenya’s Anti-Terrorism Police Unit, John Gachomo.

“Kenya is fully committed to working internationally to do all it can to prevent terrorism and other crime from tearing this region’s economies, security and social tapestry apart,” added Mr Gachomo.

In a statement by the global police, the just concluded operation Simba II in which some worlds most wanted criminals were arrested from the East African region also saw a significant rise in the number of hits on INTERPOL’s global criminal databases during the eight days of the operation, particularly on the Stolen and Lost Travel Documents (SLTD) database.

It is said that stolen travel documents are a key asset for terrorist mobility, particularly for foreign terrorist fighters returning from conflict zones.

Therefore, access to INTERPOL’s SLTD database of more than 80 million travel documents enabled front line officers to detect several individuals using stolen passports to travel.

In regards to building resilience against the spread of terrorism, “Operations like Simba II show how important it is for countries to use INTERPOL’s wide range of criminal databases in strategic places like border crossings,” said Wilson Otuna Omoding, Uganda’s Deputy Counter-Terrorism Director.

“In providing the region with strong policing capabilities INTERPOL clearly shows its determination to help Africa address its specific security threats and build the sustainable, safe and prosperous future that all Africans deserve,” Mr Omoding added.

Al-Shabaab and Allied Democratic Forces are the main terrorist threats in the region.  They have carried out several mass-casualty attacks on civilians in the countries targeted by Operation Simba II.

Operation Simba II was coordinated with funding by the United Arab Emirates and the INTERPOL Foundation for a Safer World.