By Vitalis Kimutai
Yokohama, Japan: African leaders want the international community to assist the continent to curb terrorism and piracy that are the latest threat to tourism and maritime trade.
The heads of States attending the Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) in Yokohama, Japan said the international organised crime were a threat to peace and development in Africa.
Deputy President William Ruto representing President Uhuru Kenyatta at the conference said African countries must provide a first line of defence to combat the vice.
Ruto decried the piracy along the coastal region as a major threat to tourism and trade between African countries and the rest of the world owing to kidnappings and ransom demands by international criminals.
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“Africa has to provide first line of action both in the humanitarian front, political leadership and military intervention to arrest the situation whenever it arises so that it does not get out of hand and become detrimental to peace, trade and development,” Ruto said.
“It is not possible to discuss trade and development in an environment where chaos is the order of the day,” Ruto said.
Ruto said the security situation in Somalia requires more proactive approach from the international community to ensure stability.
Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe hit out at European and Western countries that had arrogated themselves the role of ‘prefects’ in the region where they use military intervention to further their selfish interests in the name enforcing peace.
Conducive environment
“Why is it that African countries do not have permanent membership in the United Nations? It is for the simple reason that some countries that view Africa as being lesser human beings than them. This must stop,” he said.
Somalia President Sheikh Mohamud said there was need to eliminate threats to individual countries and communities to create a conducive environment for trade.
“There is need for a bottom-up approach in peace building in Africa. Somalia has literally been a laboratory for peace-building processes in the Horn of Africa, but we are happy we are on the road to attaining democracy and national unity,” he said.
South Sudan President Salva Kiir said his country would not be used to harbour terrorists and that by 2020 Horn of Africa will be free of conflict.
Burundi President Pierre Nkurunziza said it was sad tens of thousands of people had died in Africa due to conflicts and that piracy and terrorism needed to be tackled jointly by countries in the region with support from the international community.
South Africa’s Jacob Zuma said a lot needed to be done to liberate Africa from conflicts.
