Paved with good intention? The African Union counter terrorism agenda

Abstract

Africa has for a long time been embattled by differing acts of terrorism, with divergent manifestations such as suicide bombing, killings and hijacking. Accordingly, the Organisation of African Unity and subsequently the African Union took up the responsibility of developing strategies to counter the menacing trend of terrorism on the continent. To this end, several counter terrorism interventions were created. The first of Africa's interventions was developed as early as 1992, when the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) member states adopted a Resolution to strengthen cooperation and coordination among African states against different manifestations of extremism. Although, there is abundance of scholarly literature on the subject of understanding of terrorism and its human rights implications and also on the impact of terrorism on political pluralism, there is a dearth of scholarly writings on the activities of the African Union in relation to terrorism in Africa, particularly on whether the Union is responding positively to its counter terrorism agenda. Yet, the role of the African Union in this regard on the continent cannot be over emphasised. This study is therefore carried out to scrutinise the counter terrorism agenda of the African Union and explore its counter terrorism activities from inception till date. In ascertaining the necessity for the African Union to develop ways to adequately implement its counter terrorism agenda, the study carries out an assessment of the agenda and established its link with the United Nations counter terrorism framework. Recommendations about how best the agenda can be realised concludes the study. Specifically, the research explores the activities of the African Union with the aim of determining whether the agenda was merely paved with good intentions. While many weaknesses of the agenda were discovered and discussed in depth, the research concludes, that despite the gap that exists between the agenda and its implementation and the problem of resources bedevilling the implementation of the agenda, it will be unfair to describe the African Union counter terrorism agenda as merely paved with good intentions in the lights of numerous positive steps that have been taken towards translating the agenda into full implementation.