Arab anti-terrorism officials seek greater regional co-operation

30/06/2008

At two anti-terrorism conferences in Tunis last week, Arab officials discussed improving co-operation to stem terrorists' recruitment capacity and disrupt their flow of money and support.

By Mona Yahia for Magharebia in Tunis – 30/06/08

[Mona Yahia] The 11th Arab Anti-Terrorism Conference concluded on June 26th in Tunis with calls for improved co-operation and for greater attention to be paid to youth issues.

Antiterrorism officials attending a recent conference in Tunisia called on Arab states to devote energy to the region's youth, providing job opportunities and protecting them against intellectual deception and the dangers of terrorism.

At the conclusion of the 11th Arab Anti-Terrorism Conference, held June 25th-26th in the Tunisian capital, participants called for improved procedural co-operation between national anti-terrorism authorities and for the support of financial organisations concerned with combating money laundering and terrorism.

The General Secretariat focused the two-day agenda on several key subjects, including attacking the finances of terrorist organisations; methods employed by the new generation of terrorists; new effects of terrorism on society; and the role played by social institutions in combating terrorism.

Participants also recommended regulating charity organisations, to ensure they do not finance or support terrorism.

The conference also addressed the economic and social conditions in the Arab world that fuel crime and terrorism.

In the same context, the Council of Arab Interior Ministers in Tunis hosted the sixth meeting of the Arab Anti-terrorism Panel on June 27th-28th.

Participants in that meeting called on Arab states to follow the UN-sponsored strategy for capacity-building and technical assistance in counterterrorism. They also called for a unified Arab position on criminalising direct and indirect incitement to violence, represented in the defamation of religions and religious symbols. This is in addition to the adoption of a unified Arab legal position against takfir ideology and takfir fatwas.

Attendees also urged Arab states to enact or develop national legislation to combat terrorists' use of the internet.

Participants called on the media to be careful when they hold dialogue with the terrorist elements and those known for their extremist affiliations or when they present the ideas of these groups, to prevent the promotion and spread of their ideology.

As to the internet, participants stressed in their recommendations the need to create websites to stop the spread of violent ideologies.

Mohamed Ben Ali Koman, Secretary-General of the Council of Arab Interior Ministers, said at the opening of the conference that terrorist groups depend mainly on religious calls to promote their destructive ideas and to recruit elements into their ranks. He called on clerics to confront these "criminal and takfirist" ideas by exposing the falsity of their claims and stressing the core, peaceful principles of Islam.

Koman also underlined the importance of serious effort in combating poverty and unemployment among youth.

"We are attaching great importance to raising the awareness of Arab peoples about the dangers of terrorist activities and crimes. The responsibility for such awareness is on all forces and active groups in society, foremost among which are religious, youth, sport and media institutions," conference head Hichem Abdullah Malek Gazeli said.