Transcript Insecurity and Terrorism as Threats to EAC Integration

Insecurity and Terrorism as Threats to EAC
Integration: How Can EAC Develop a Common
Position? A Rejoinder to the Presentation by
Professor Mohamed Salih
By: Paschal Mihyo
Executive Director, Organization for Social
Science Research in Eastern and Southern Africa
(OSSREA)
Uncertainties caused by terrorism
Threats to protocols on trade- free movement of goods and persons
Stock and commodity market uncertainties during alerts and its
impact on possible harmonization
Impact on tourism and common services- education, health etc
Added stigma: in addition to traditional stereotypes terrorism
becomes a weapon for unfair competition between EAC and other
blocks
Impact on sovereignty – countries become more divided by
external allies
End of the dream that integration will bring communities togetherzoning within countries; ethnic identities and rivalries
Loss of face: every time attacks take people lose faith in our
collective and individual defense and security capabilities
Undermining the roots of ethnic and communal terrorism
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De-institutionalize communal and ethnic terrorism- fight
communal and ethnic hatred and ban the promotion of communal
identities through media and political groupings
Understanding the extent of IT hate based propaganda
Develop common frameworks and laws on hate propaganda
Build capacity for tracking websites to ensure compliance with
such laws and conscientize HR groups to the other victims’ rights
Implement international conventions that protect individuals from
hate and attacks by hate groups; train prosecutors and judges
Develop guidelines to schools, parents, community leaders on how
to prepare youth for democratic community
Revise books and teaching materials to provide a proper
perspective of community histories and characteristics
A broader understanding of terrorism
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EAC needs to address new and potential forms of terrorism
Eco-terrorism: violation of livelihoods – planting tress that will
aggravate climate volatility; seeds that increase food insecurity;
poisoning water sources- strengthen common bio-safety systems
Bio-terrorism: artificially engineered agents that can be spread
through air, water or food. Anthrax was widely used by apartheid;
Japan used infected fleas against China in 1942; Russia was
developing anthrax as a bio weapon and unleashed it on its own
people by mistake in 1979 – build knowledge systems on these
Transmittable diseases include: anthrax; botulism; ebola; plague;
recombinat viruses, small pox and rabbit fever: stocks of these are
abundant in Russia and the US – strengthen scanning capability
Radiological weapons: uranium, plutonium, plodium, radium and
cobalt can be used for dirty bombs. Large stocks of these are
avalbale in Khazakhstan, Krygyzstan and Tajikstan: Know more
about these stockpiles
Possible attacks on infrastructure
We depend on electric power and have established power pools.
Cross-border power services including oil pipelines are vulnerable
to attacks as happened to Iraq in 2003 and Georgia in 2006- we
need common security arrangements to protect these services
Identify common services and systems that are vulnerable and
adopt common security strategies to defend them
Ensure effective protection of water, power and food supply
systems
Build systems engineering into design of infrastructure and ensure
it is security conscious. Popularize systems analysis in engineering
training
Establish a presence and cooperation with countries with
experience in handling techno-terrorism targeting infrastructure
Keep a watch on failed states
‘When your neighbor’s house catches fire, you feel the heat’
Most of the failed states are products of the cold war: they relied
too much on allies and neglected their own people
When the cold war ended they were abandoned and could not
stand on their own because they were not designed for self reliance
They deteriorated and have become sanctuaries of terrorist groups
(they include: DRC, CAR, Somalia, Sudan and several in West
Africa). Eritrea has recently allowed itself to become a failed state
and a hub for the Eritrean Islamic Jihad Movement which claimed
1998 that East Africa belongs to Muslims and it will work with all
radical Muslims organizations to liberate it from infidels. It has
been the main conduit for Al Qaeda related funding for El Shabaab
and other terrorist cells in the region.
The EAC has tried its best especially Kenya and Uganda ( Somalia)
and Burundi, Tanzania and Rwanda (in Sudan) to tame the tide of
fragility in the region. But there is need to prevent the emergence
on new fragile states.
Concluding remarks
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Current collective efforts are working but more is required
Shift from state centric to people centric security strategies
Intensify security reforms to impart technical capabilities to detect
and control various forms of terrorism with less focus on political
issues; combine power, commercial and security diplomacy
Security should involve communities and people (as in Ethiopia)
State centred land transfers have led to massive acquisition of land
by groups that support terror and use acquired land to train
terrorists. Land transfers should involve communities
Diplomatic channels should remain open but terrorism is a project
not aimed at ending and terrorists have serious mistrust for
diplomacy &governments (Kony and Shabaab are examples)
War should be the last resort: it costs too much and creates new
problems ( the ‘wakombozi’ syndrome )if it takes long and fails to
deliver. Therefore tackle the core problems –youth unemployment,
illiteracy, ethnic hatred, corruption, and undemocratic governance.
END
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