Two-day event aims to enhance West African anti-terrorism cooperation

The Nigerian capital Abuja is hosting a two-day meeting to strengthen regional cooperation against terrorism. The event will include security experts and senior officials from several West African countries, including staff of the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre (KAIPTC) in Ghana. At the opening ceremony, Major General Adamu Laka, National Coordinator of the National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC), emphasised the need for stronger cooperation in West Africa against terrorism and transnational organised crime. He also noted the increasing threat posed by extremist groups on the northern borders of regional countries and urged the creation of more effective security mechanisms to counter it. On his part, the Commandant of KAIPTC thanked his Nigerian hosts for organising the event, as well as the Government of Japan and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) for making it possible.
Discussions at the Abuja meeting will aim to improve coordination among West African nations and boost the operational capacity of their counterterrorism efforts. The event is also an attempt to relaunch the 2017 Accra Initiative, a cooperative security mechanism involving several West African countries that focuses on intelligence sharing and joint military operations to contain the terrorist threat from the Sahel. Nigeria participates in the initiative as an observer.