TERRORISM

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Terrorism is not a new phenomenon or threat to human security in Africa. The ISS acknowledges that the concept “terrorism” means different things to different people, explaining the inability of academics, policy makers and others to come up with a single definition of a phenomenon that is not new to human history. A possible reason for this inability probably is a result of the changing nature of and motivation for terrorism. Despite this inability to provide a single acceptable definition, the ISS agrees to the definition of a “terrorist act” as provided by the OAU / AU Convention on the Prevention and Combating of Terrorism or the Algiers Convention:

(Picture: The bombing of the US Embassy in Dar es Salaam)

Article 1(a) any act which is a violation of the criminal laws of a State Party and which may endanger the life, physical integrity or freedom of, or cause serious injury or death to, any person, any number or group of persons or causes or may cause damage to public or private property, natural resources, environmental or cultural heritage and is calculated or intended to:

i. Intimidate, put in fear, force, coerce or induce any government, body, institution, the general public or any segment thereof, to do or abstain from doing any act, or to adopt or abandon a particular standpoint, or to act according to certain principles; or

ii. Disrupt any public service, the delivery of any essential service to the public or to create a public emergency; or

iii. Create general insurrection in a State.

Article 3(i) Notwithstanding the provisions of Article 1 the struggle waged by peoples in accordance with the principles of international law for their liberation or self-determination, including armed struggle against colonialism, occupation, aggression and domination by foreign forces shall not be considered as terrorist acts.

(ii) Political, philosophical, ideological, racial, ethnic, religious or other motives shall not be a justifiable defence against a terrorist act.

The aim of this thematic page and portal will be to provide practitioners in government, researchers, policy makers and others seeking to understand the phenomenon of terrorism with information on on-going initiatives and measures to prevent and combat terrorism in Africa, as well as its effects on the people.

ISS Focus on Terrorism

The ISS initiated a project in June 2002 to assess the threat of terrorism in the SADC sub-region and to examine existing legislation relating to the combating of terrorism. Since then the project has developed to cover the whole African continent and is currently being implemented within the African Security Analysis Programme (ASAP) in Pretoria.

Specific interest in the possible threat of terrorism in the Horn of Africa, the need to build capacity and cooperation between the ISS and IGAD led to a specific project on Counter-Terrorism in IGAD and the opening of an ISS office in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The IGAD Capacity Building Programme Against Terrorism (ICPAT) seeks to assess and improve border security and control in four countries in the Horn of Africa (Ethiopia, Kenya, Sudan and Uganda) through improved inter-departmental and regional collaboration, working towards the standardisation of border control measures within the IGAD region and to support IGAD counter-terrorism measures through information sharing and research.