African leaders urge new doctrine support

‘Back anti-terror fight’

DAKAR, Nov 14, (AFP): African leaders on Monday used a regional forum to underline the need for the continent to assure its own security after years of Western interventions, while also calling for international funding to support the anti-terror fight.

The annual Dakar International Forum on Peace and Security this year brings together the presidents of Mali, Rwanda and host Senegal along with military officials and experts to discuss Africa’s serious challenges in the sector.

In an opening address, Senegal’s President Macky Sall said a “military response must be comprehensive, and one of solidarity, to leave terrorist groups no place to hide.

“The risk today is seeing terrorists defeated elsewhere seeking fallback zones in Africa,”

Sall

Sall added.

The vast Sahel region, stretching from Senegal to Sudan, has turned into a hotbed of lawlessness since chaos engulfed Libya in 2011, Islamists overran northern Mali in 2012 and Boko Haram rose up in northern Nigeria.

Beyond the Sahel, the al-Shebab, a militant group aligned with al-Qaeda, regularly carries out suicide bombings in its bid to overthrow Somalia’s internationally-backed government, while civil conflicts in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, Central African Republic and South Sudan blight the continent.