Heads of State and government and Senior Officials who took part in the Extraordinary Summit of theAfrican Union (AU) on the fight against terrorism and unconstitutional changes of government in Africa held on Saturday in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea, emphasized the imperative to strengthen collective action to address the challenges of terrorism, violent extremism and unconstitutional changes in government in the mainland.
Africa continues to face structural challenges to adequately address the root causes of terrorism, violent extremism and unconstitutional changes of governmentunderlined the participants in this Summit in the Final Declaration sanctioning their work.
In this Declaration, the leaders present at the summit noted that the resurgence of unconstitutional changes of government, the expansion of the threat of terrorism and violent extremism on the continent, including the influx of foreign terrorist fighters, corporate military personnel and mercenaries, the proliferation of armed groups, as well as transnational organized crime, have a negative impact on the peace, security, stability, sovereignty and territorial integrity of certain Member States.
They indicated that the deficits of governanceterrorism and violent extremism are aggravated by the impact of climate change and concern over the use of natural resources by terrorist groups as a source of funding.
On the other hand, they added that despite these obstacles, the Member States, the Regional Economic Communities and the Regional Mechanisms (RECs/RMs) and AU Organs continue to make progressive strides towards consolidating democracy and constitutionalism, as well as towards countering terrorism and violent extremism.
Another AU Extraordinary Summit on humanitarian issues in the Continent took place on Friday, May 27 in Malabo, the Equatoguinean capital.