AU security chief warns ‘terrorism expanding’ in Sahel
The African Union’s peace and security chief Smail Chergui called Monday for member states to tackle the root-causes of extremism, as he deplored the spread of “terrorism” in the Sahel.
“Terrorism is expanding,” Chergui told journalists on the sidelines of an AU summit in Addis Ababa, pointing in particular to countries on the Sahara’s southern rim, AFP reported.
“There are increasing numbers of terrorist movements, who attack civilian populations and institutions in these countries.”
“Almost on a daily basis, Burkina Faso now is facing criminal and terrorist attacks,” he said.
Chergui said the combination of extremist attacks, inter-ethnic conflict and clashes between pastoral and agricultural communities was leading to an “unprecedented high level of violence.”
He said that AU member states had agreed to address the scourge of extremism in a more comprehensive manner.
This meant not only through “military and security responses, but also other means in terms of governance, in making sure that no one is left on the road in terms of development, in terms of political engagement, in terms of justice,” he said. He highlighted youth unemployment as a key challenge.
His comments echoed those of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-sisi, who took over as AU chair on Sunday with a call to tackle the root causes of extremism.
Chergui expressed disappointment in difficulties faced to finance the G5 Sahel force, a French-backed 5,000-man joint mission among the five nations on the front line: Burkina Faso, Mali, Mauritania, Niger and Chad.
The revolt in the Sahel took off after chaos engulfed Libya in 2011. Terrorist attacks erupted in northern Mali as Boko Haram arose in northern Nigeria.
The French Army largely flushed terrorists from Mali, but they have gained ground in neighboring Burkina Faso and Niger, while Chad is battling unrest on its borders.
Lack of funding and training, as well as poor equipment, have hobbled the G5 Sahel initiative.
Forty years on from the Islamic Revolution, Iranians once again flocked to the streets of Tehran and other cities and towns across the country to mark the anniversary of the 1979 revolution.
Carrying Iranian flags and chanting various slogans, people from all walks of life took part in the nationwide rallies.
Despite rising economic pressure exerted by the United States in recent years, Iranians braved the cold weather and snow, turned out in droves to highlight support for the revolution.
Country’s top officials also participated in the rallies to show their allegiance to the revolution which led to the collapse of the Us-backed monarch.
Addressing demonstrators at Tehran’s iconic Azadi Square, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said that Iran will continue interaction with the world and defeat all US plots in the coming years just as it has done over the past four decades.
“The Iranian people have and will have some economic difficulties (due to the sanctions) but we will overcome the problems by helping each other,” Rouhani said. US budget talks have hit another impasse over immigration, a key Republican negotiator said Sunday, raising the prospect of a second government shutdown if no agreement is reached by this week’s deadline.
“I think the talks are stalled right now,” Richard Shelby, the chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said on Fox News Sunday.
The deadline for an agreement on funding to keep the government open is Friday, raising the specter of a repeat of the 35-day partial shutdown that ended January 25 – the longest in US history, AFP reported.
Negotiators had been optimistic on Friday an agreement would be reached that includes some funds for a border “barrier,” although less than the $5.7 billion which US President
Praising strong presence
Rouhani told the demonstrators that their presence ruined all the plots the enemies had hatched over the past year to pressure the nation politically and economically.
“This presence makes it clear that the enemy will never succeed and the Revolution will continue on the same path as in the past 40 years,” the president said.
“We will not let America succeed,” he added.
US National Security Adviser John Bolton had said the outcome of the country’s policy review should be to determine that Iran’s Revolution would not last until its 40th birthday.
“And that’s why, before 2019, we here will celebrate in Tehran!” he had told a convention of the terrorist MKO group in Paris in 2017.
Achievements
Rouhani reminisced about the nation’s resistance during the Iran-iraq War, when former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, backed by the West and the Soviet Union, attacked Iran.
“Let the whole world know that today Iran enjoys higher levels of preparedness, combat and defense” and Iranian armed forces make 85 percent of their weapons and equipment as opposed to the Pahlavi era, when the figure stood at around 5 percent, Rouhani added.
The Iranian president also made it clear that Tehran would not ask for permission to strengthen its defenses.
“We have not asked and will not ask for permission to develop different types of ... missiles and will continue our path and our military power,” Rouhani said.
Iran’s regional role
Pointing to the country’s regional role, he said that Iran was not going to roll back its regional influence either.
“Over the past five years, Iran provided assistance to Iraqi, Syrian, Lebanese, Palestinian and Yemeni nations when it saw fit and the world saw how the enemies failed” and now they are leaving the region, he said, referring to Trump’s decision to withdraw American troops from Syria and Afghanistan.
“Iran’s role in the region has reached a historical peak and no matter what other countries and superpowers say, Iran is the only country that can rush to help regional states,” he said.
“If you want regional security, no plan will succeed without Iran, and the global arrogance, Americans and Zionists should know that this victory will be Iran’s.”
US officials have adopted an extremely hostile policy toward Iran under the Trump administration, with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo pledging to “starve” Iranians until they give in to American demands.