Terrorism raises the most serious security threat in Eastern Africa. Ever since the year 1998 when Al Qaeda undertook its first attacks against US Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, Terrorism has stayed firmly etched in the minds of Governments and residents and evokes much fear and emotion. The emergence of Al Qaeda linked with the Al Shabaab terrorist group in the year 2006, forced the region to be one of the most vulnerable to terrorism in Africa.
Consequently, Al Shabaab acquired control of large parts of Somalia establishing a quasi-government system finished with a taxation structure that ensured stable funding. This supplied impetus for Al Shabaab to continue aggression against Somalia security forces and civilian targets as well as select targets in other countries in the region. The Somalia security agencies supported by foreign forces under the umbrella of the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) have to an extent governed to downscale the capability of Al Shabaab.
In realization of these challenges, the EAPCCO Council of Police Chiefs, in the year 2012, enacted a resolution to designate the EAPCCO Counter Terrorism Centre of Excellence in Nairobi, Kenya. The Centre of Excellence evolved operational in the year 2018 and aims to coordinate and facilitate information sharing. EAPCCO recognizes the approval of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) towards the operationalization of this centre.
It is also important that INTERPOL has also established a Regional Counter Terrorism Node whose function is to support member countries through the deployment of Policing Capabilities, supporting and corresponding operations and responding to terrorist incidents among other roles. Indeed INTERPOL has already been sustaining operation SIMBA with significant success over the course of the last two years.
In order to back capacity building to counter the threat of terrorism, the Council of Police Chiefs authorized the Secretariat to coordinate a provincial joint training exercise each year. In all, the region has noticed three Field Training Exercises in Uganda and Kenya, one Command Post Exercise in Rwanda and two Table Top inExercises Rwanda. The EAPCCO brood equally recognizes the backing of INTERPOL, the EU Project Regional Law Enforcement in the Greater Horn of Africa and Yemen, the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) and UNODC in keeping these exercises.
On capacity building, EAPCCO in collaboration with the ISS has in place a Counter Terrorism Training Manual. This manual has so far been employed to train close to 600 police and other law enforcement officers including bomb mechanics thanks to the support of ISS and other international partners.
As a region, Africa is also keen to prevent not only the well-known modus operandi of attacks but also concentrate on the possibility of deployment of chemical, biological, nuclear and radiological (CBRNE) weapons. To further strengthen the region’s capacity to counter the terrorism threat, the Council of Police Chiefs established the Counter Terrorism Sub Committee whose constituents are Heads of Counter Terrorism Units in member countries. The subcommittee assembles at least twice a year within the framework of the EAPCCO Organs and Annual General Meetings to meditate on the region’s threats, and trends and share best methods as well as develop strategies and suggestions to the Permanent Coordinating Committee.
