Terrorists on the African continent are willing to cooperate with organised crime and separatist groups, Morocco's foreign minister said

La Coalición contra el Daesh concentra sus esfuerzos en África 

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Da'esh emerged with a vengeance in 2014 and posed a major challenge not only to the West, but also to all powers based in the Middle East and North Africa or with interests in both regions. The Islamic terrorist group was soundly defeated in Syria in 2019, but its threat remains, especially in Africa.

In this context, the Global Coalition against Daesh ratified on 28 June its determination to definitively defeat the jihadist organisation, both in the Middle East and on the African continent, according to the communiqué issued by the organisation after the multilateral summit in Rome.

Coalition members held a face-to-face meeting in Rome after more than two years of impasse. Italian Foreign Minister Luigi di Maio convened the members together with US State Department Secretary Antony Blinken.

AP/CAROL KASTER  -   Tony Blinken, Secretario de Estado de Estados Unidos

In this regard, there have been warnings that terrorist groups on the African continent have shown a willingness to cooperate with organised crime networks and separatist groups, as Morocco's foreign minister Nasser Bourita pointed out. "This trend must be carefully monitored because it penetrates deep into local populations and takes advantage of porous borders to move freely and recruit fighters," Bourita said on the occasion of the Roman summit. 

The parties tried to redefine the organisation's objectives in the new scenario and discussed the repatriation of former Daesh fighters held in northern Syria. At this point, Blinken expressed the need for the plan to be undertaken and pressed his partners to implement it as soon as possible. 

The State Department secretary described the situation of the 10,000 Daesh fighters held in refugee camps by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) as "untenable". "The United States continues to urge countries - including coalition partners - to repatriate, rehabilitate, and, where appropriate, prosecute their nationals," Blinken said in a clear reference to France and the UK.

AFP/ DELIL SOULEIMAN  -   Un miembro de las Fuerzas Democráticas Sirias (FDS), quita una bandera del grupo del Estado Islámico en la ciudad de Tabqa, a unos 55 kilómetros (35 millas) al oeste de la ciudad de Raqa. Al-Qaeda y el grupo del Estado Islámico (IS) son también adversarios ideológicos irreconciliables y, sobre el terreno, enemigos fratricidas

Two of Washington's main allies have been reluctant to bring back their nationals. Neither Paris nor London has a clear legal framework to reliably prosecute them, and they fear that the courts will demand the release of the indictees and that this would pose a threat to national security. 

Meanwhile, former fighters of the jihadist group, mostly from the old continent, are being held in camps in northern Syria, in many cases accompanied by their families. Among them are a large number of children. 

"They are being radicalised, and unless we find a way to repatriate them, reintegrate them and de-radicalise them, we are giving away fighters in five to seven years," US General Kenneth McKenzie warned the American Enterprise Institute seminar. "It will be a military problem in a few years if we don't deal with the non-military aspects now.

REUTERS/ALI HASHISHO  -   Campo de desplazados de al-Hol en la gobernación de Hasaka, Siria

In another development, the organisation acknowledged in a press release that "the resumption of Daesh's activities and its ability to rebuild its networks and capabilities to attack security forces and civilians in areas where the Coalition is not active requires strong vigilance and coordinated action".

For this reason, the Coalition decided to strengthen its cooperation and will approve in the coming weeks the allocation of a series of resources to member states that are directly threatened by the terrorist group. However, no concrete measures were revealed at the meeting.

The Global Coalition against Daesh was formed in September 2014 with a single goal: to defeat the so-called Islamic State. The 83 members of the organisation showed their commitment to fight the terrorist group on all fronts, dismantle its networks of influence and act as a counterweight to its global ambitions.

PHOTO - El ministro de Asuntos Exteriores, Cooperación Africana y Marroquíes Residentes en el Extranjero, Nasser Bourita, y el ministro italiano de Asuntos Exteriores y Cooperación Internacional, Luigi Di Maio

The Coalition's roadmap also includes preventing the transit of foreign fighters, strengthening the institutions in the areas liberated from Daesh and, ultimately, diluting the propaganda issued by the jihadists. In addition, one of the aims is to cut off all of the terrorist group's financing channels.

Algeria, Mali, Sudan, Syria and Iran are the only countries located in the jihadist terrorist zones of influence that are not part of the organisation. The Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mauritania and Yemen joined the group at the last summit.

The Coalition is scheduled to meet in June 2022, but a summit of Small Group Political Leaders will also be held in Brussels in the autumn of this year, the joint communiqué said.

AFP/ DELIL SOULEIMAN  -   Un miembro de las Fuerzas Democráticas Sirias (FDS), quita una bandera del grupo del Estado Islámico en la ciudad de Tabqa, a unos 55 kilómetros (35 millas) al oeste de la ciudad de Raqa. Al-Qaeda y el grupo del Estado Islámico (IS) son también adversarios ideológicos irreconciliables y, sobre el terreno, enemigos fratricidas
Africa: red alert

In a parallel session, allies focused on the security threat in Africa. The foreign ministers present "noted with grave concern the growth of Daesh networks and affiliates in sub-Saharan Africa". The direct threat affects the Sahel region and East Africa, especially Mozambique.

Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita said that terrorist attacks in Africa have risen from 381 to 7,108 in just five years. The number of victims on the continent has risen from 1,394 to a total of 12,519. 

"A quarter of the world's terrorist violence takes place in Africa, with terrorist groups active in half of all African countries," Bourita said. In this sense, his British counterpart Dominic Raab warned that Daesh was "repositioning itself in Africa after its military defeats in Iraq and Syria".

During the opening, the Moroccan foreign minister called for careful monitoring of this trend, "because it penetrates deeply into local populations and takes advantage of porous borders to move freely and recruit fighters". 

AFP/FADEL SENNA  -   Miembros de las brigadas centrales de intervención marroquíes (BCI)

The self-styled Islamic Caliphate lost almost all of its territory in Syria and Iraq in 2019. However, the terrorist organisation's pressure is now concentrated in the Sahel and Mozambique. 

France, active in the former, is scaling back its military campaign, while the US has no plans to take direct military action. "We must intensify the action undertaken by the coalition, not by changing our approach, but by increasing the regions in which we operate, not only in the Middle East, but in Africa," proposed Di Maio. 

The Coalition "can and should work more closely with African countries, and I think the participants here agree on that", added German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas. In any case, the efforts of the Global Coalition against Daesh are focused on minimising Daesh's funding channels and directly supporting African states.

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