Mr. Ahmed Attaf speech during the high-level meeting of the UN Security Council on counter-terrorism in Africa

  My first words are those of special thanks and deep appreciation to our distinguished briefers:

the Deputy Secretary General, Ms. Amina Mohammed,

the African Union’s Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace and Security, Ambassador Bankole Adeoye,

and, last but not least, my dear compatriot Ambassador Said Djinnit.

Let me start by echoing your alarming assessment about the mounting and ever-increasing threat of terrorism in Africa. While this threat has substantially declined in other parts of the world, it has exponentially increased in our continent. The figures depicting the most recent trends of terrorism in Africa leave no room for interpretation:

These figures indicate that throughout the last decade, Africa has witnessed a deeply shocking 400% increase in terrorist attacks and a 237% rise in terrorism related deaths;

They also reveal that in just the first nine months of the year 2024, Africa was hit by over 3200 terrorist attacks claiming more than 13,000 lives;

These figures further demonstrate that the global terrorism epicenter has shifted to the Sahel region, a region which currently accounts alone for more than 48% of the world’s terrorism related deaths, compared to just 1% back in 2007.  

They finally suggest that from the Sahel region, terrorism continues to spread to other African parts and areas, most notably Eastwards and Southwards, with the Central African region serving as a bridge to these movements.

In sum, this is the new reality in Africa, where terrorism has become the threat number one to peace, security and development. Behind this reality, there are so many tragic human stories, so many torn families and so many devastated communities. And above all, a threatened future of a whole continent.

Yet, numbers alone cannot explain and capture the full scope of this challenge. Because, when we talk about terrorism in Africa, and most particularly in the Sahel region:

We talk first about terrorist groups that are heavily armed and strongly equipped, groups that display highly skilled military strategies and groups that practically deserve to be designated under the name of “terrorist armies”. 

We talk second about terrorist groups that have expanded their control over huge geographical areas, amounting to more than 60% of the national territories of some countries in the region, where these groups act as the de-facto authorities.

We talk third and last about terrorist groups that have developed a sophisticated modus operandi to finance their activities, relying not only on traditional means like organized crime, illegal migration, human trafficking and kidnapping for ransoms, but also on new technologies and financial innovations, which render their business networks more complex and harder to detect. In this regard, the “Algeria guiding principles” adopted recently by the UN Counter Terrorism Committee are meant exactly to shed the necessary light and focus on this issue.

This is the background against which Algeria continues to fulfil its duties at the continental level, in its capacity as the African Union’s Champion on combating terrorism and violent extremism, a high assignment that African Heads of State and Government have bestowed upon His Excellency President Abdelmadjid TEBBOUNE.

This is also the background against which Algeria has taken the initiative of convening today’s meeting to sound loudly the alarm about the critical situation created by the expansion of terrorism in Africa. Our aim is nothing but to stress the urgent need of reviving the global interest and reigniting the international momentum to seriously tackle this scourge.

In doing so, we stand firm in our belief that:

What Africa is facing is not a local threat, it is rather a global threat, a threat that knows nor border and a threat to which no one could be considered as immune!

What Africa is facing will sooner or later create wide ranging ramifications that will be awfully felt far beyond the African affected regions and far beyond the whole continent!

And last but not least, what Africa is facing requires a new approach based on a renewed international commitment and a revitalized global engagement to effectively assist those in need and to urgently stop the threat’s expansion before it’s too late.  

Such belief does not come out of nowhere. It comes from Algeria’s bitter but successful experience in the fight against this scourge.

Algeria knows the reality of terrorism;

Algeria faced terrorism alone in the 1990s, when others deliberately chose to look away;

Eventually, Algeria defeated terrorism, thanks to the strength of its institutions, to the comprehensiveness of its response, and most importantly, to the unity, to the resilience and to the resolve of its people.

Drawing from this experience, I would like to conclude my remarks with three fundamental messages:

First, the current trajectory is unsustainable. The international community should not allow terrorism to continue undermining Africa's path to peace and prosperity. It should not accept a future where the continent's rich potential remains hostage to fear and violence.

Second, we need to think differently and to act decisively with the aim of addressing both the manifestations of terrorism and its root causes, while taking fully into account the great capacity of adaptation that this scourge continues to display. Development and security responses must go on pair to ensure that we collectively address the issue at hand in a comprehensive, coherent and integrated manner.

Third, we need strong African leadership, supported by efficient international partnership, including between the African Union and the United Nations. African countries, gathered within their continental Organization, the African Union, as well as within their different regional groupings, have indeed demonstrated their commitment to assume their fair share in the global fight against terrorism.

They have done so through development strategies based on Agenda 2063 and its multiple plans of action;

They have also done so through Peace Support Operations, such as the one being deployed in the sisterly Republic of Somalia;

They have finally done so through joint operational frameworks for mutual support in the fight against this scourge, such as the Committee of Intelligence and Security Services (CISSA), the African Standby Force (ASF) and its five regional components, including the North African Regional Capacity (NARC), the African Mechanism for Police Cooperation (AFRIPOL), the Joint Operational General Staff Committee (CEMOC), and, last but not least, the African Center for the Study and Research on Terrorism (ACSRT).

The international community should not leave Africa alone in this fight! Africa’s success will be a global success. Its failure will be detrimental to the whole world.   

I Thank you.