AU Security summit

African Union Peace and Security summit meeting in Nairobi came to a stark realization on the threat of terrorism posed by inter-border loopholes, but is it too late?

While the meeting toyed with the idea of setting up a fund with Kenya’s President Kenyatta admitting that ‘no single state can tackle this threat alone and it is particularly worrying in Africa today that terrorist organizations have grown both in terms of number and capability’.

Even Spy chiefs and the police who met last week are thinking of crafting a regional approach that might craft cross border partnerships and legislations, it begs to understand whether this counter move is not only anticipated by the terrorists and impractical in the dynamics that are changing by the day.

Why I think both are the case are two incidents that preceded this meeting but were never put in context at the summit.

One is the declaration of a Caliphate on all territories under the Boko Haram by Abbubakr Shekau. While it might be seen as an imitation of Abu Bakr Al-Baghdai’s Islamic State Caliph, the creation of the state even if hysterical at most is a sure effort at blurring borders of the current countries as we know them.

It is not unimaginable especially for the ‘horn of Africa’ where Al Sahab operate across a border of ethnic Somali to declare make a similar move. Disenfranchised and already branded terrorist by virtue of their identity and religion it is also unsurprising that such a move to create a state will be appealing to Al Shabab sympathizers.

If such states pop up than it will be hard to see how a regional force will effectively battle the insurgents without legitimizing the states and the operational dynamics on territorial integrity plus a mish mash of military ranks will facilitate such a franchise.

Another problem is the discovery of a Laptop in a village in the Syrian province of Idlib from the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS), which have since rebranded themselves as the Islamic State during an attack in January.

The Laptop believed to be of a Tunisian Named Muhamed S. a chemist student, contained 19 page document in Arabic on how to develop biological weapons including Ebola and weaponize bubonic plague from infected animal.

While the discovery of a dusty laptop in a remote village in Syria is not a doomsday indicator since even experts believe weaponizing the Ebola virus is too complex and unlikely even in sophisticated laboratories, the issue should not be let out of context.

This even as the Philippines defense department confirmed that it will pull out more than 100 troops from a UN peace-keeping mission Liberia amid concerns over the Ebola virus. What this might result in is a withdrawal of troops in a domino effect that will effectively counter any intergovernmental military action as long as the virus exists.

If and whether to keep populations safe from the virus that has already claimed 1,400 lives with a further 2,600 suspected or confirmed cases, countries seal of area around these Caliphs then they can only morph and gain legitimacy and in effect counter any international help thanks to the Philippines.

The terrorist know little come out of gatherings like this Summits than statements of intent and if any action a bureaucracy that will see it take time. And they will be ready by the time any sound action is actually taken.

It has taken long enough to realize that we need cross border warfare, and even then military procedure still dictated that Cameroonian soldiers disarm the hapless Nigerian outfit that was fleeing Shekau only recently.