UNDP to strengthen border control against terrorism and extremism
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Japanese Embassy in Ghana has launched a project to strengthen border control capacities against Extremism and Terrorism in West Africa.
Speaking at the launch, Mr. Dominic Sam, UNDP Country Director said the issue of terrorism and violence had become matters of concern in the world today.
He said building capacity was an exchange of knowledge and skills to ensure peace and stability.
Mr. Sam explained that violent extremism and terrorism respects no borders and said they were more sophisticated, diffused and difficult to track.
“Dealing with it therefore requires the state-of-the-art intelligence and cross-border collaboration among security agencies”, he added.
He said: “it is better to be proactive rather than reactionary in dealing with terrorism”.
Mr. Sam, however, said that training would be implemented by the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping and Training Centre (KAIPTC) in Ghana, Nigeria and Mali.
He explained that more than 90 security personnel from the seven countries are expected to benefit from the capacity building session.
In Ghana, personnel from immigration, police, military and the intelligence would benefit from the training which seeks to improve the responses of Member States within the context of rising radicalism, extremism and terror attacks orchestrated partly by domestic and transitional criminal networks in West Africa.
According to Mr. Shigeru Umetsu, the Charge d’Affaires, Japan Embassy in his remarks, the project was part of the Japanese commitment toward peace and stability, which he said critical for development.
He noted that between 2010 and 2016, Japan provided more than five million US dollars to KAIPTC through UNDP to deal with transnational organised crime and the proliferation of small arms.
He explained that the support against the proliferation of small arms and light weapons had led to an increase level of awareness on the dangers of small arms and members in the ECOWAS sub-region were taking steps to deal with the menace.
Source: GNA