Arab interior ministers arrived in Tunisia for a two-day conference, on Wednesday, January 30, to discuss cutting off funds for extremist networks and improve frontier controls.
The interior ministers also examined joint programs to combat drug smuggling and organized crime. The meeting ended with a strong denunciation of "all forms" of terrorism; and a call on Arab states not to allow terrorists sanctuary in their territories and on the international community to combat terrorism.
The meeting greatly inspired the international community; and lifted the hopes for a world free of terror.
Arab states have long been dogged by terrorist attacks, in particular. Algeria and Egypt in northern Africa serve as the front for countering terrorism. Last month, Al-Qaeda's African branch claimed responsibility for the bombing of the UN Refugee Agency in Algiers, the capital of Algeria, which killed 41 people, including 17 UN staff. In addition, the group has claimed responsibility for an increasing number of attacks in countries across northern Africa.
The conference was attended by a dozen ministers and representatives from 17 Arab countries, in addition to officials from Arab security organizations and Interpol (International Criminal Police Organization). While addressing the conference, Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali called for increased cooperation against extremists to notably "limit the free movement of individual terrorists from traveling from one country to another; dismantle terrorist networks and cells; and dry up their financial resources."
The president also stressed the need to eliminate cross-border organized crime, corruption, internet-crime, money laundering and the financing of extremist activities.
Objectively speaking, Arab states, in their endeavors to fight terrorism, are facing multi-layered pressures: anxiety to develop the domestic economy and improve people's lives, and the troubles arising from being without.
Some developed Western countries always make reference to the effectiveness of Arab states' participation in counter-terrorism, before launching bilateral trade ties with or offering financial aid to these countries.
Presently, Western analysts doubt Arab states' commitment to the Arab Strategy to Combat Terrorism, signed in Cairo in April 1998, asserting that Arab states are not united; and have long doubted each other in fulfilling the strategy.
In response, the meeting re-affirmed that all Arab states are concerned for the security and stability of the Arab world because the internal security of any member state is important for overall security. Therefore, Arab states will step up efforts to curtail the illegal trafficking of weapons, ammunition and explosives that could be used for terrorist acts by strengthening border controls.
Although the task is arduous and the road ahead is long, we prefer to hope that peace will be restored to the terrorism-torn world by enhancing global, as well as regional, cooperation on anti-terrorism strategies.
By People's Daily Online
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