African High-Level Meeting on Counter-Terrorism: Highlighting Morocco’s Experience in Abuja

Abuja – Morocco’s experience in the fight against terrorism was highlighted in Abuja, during the African High-Level Meeting on Counter-Terrorism held on April 22-23 under the theme “Strengthening regional cooperation and institutions to deal with the growing terrorist threat in Africa”.

Speaking on this occasion, the Director of Global Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, African Cooperation and Moroccans Living Abroad, Ismaël Chekkori, referred to the main lessons from the Kingdom’s experience in this area in the fight against terrorism and the good practices Morocco has managed to develop and share over the years.

“It is necessary to predict the rapid evolution of the threat using tools such as its precise assessment, especially cross-border movements, detecting the first signals of radicalization, the dynamics of local terrorism and its links with international terrorist groups and predicting new trends in terrorism,” explained Mr. Chekkori.

In this regard, he believed that “forecasting requires good intelligence skills and objective analysis of information.”

On the other hand, Mr. Chekkori indicated that under the leadership of His Majesty King Mohammed VI, Morocco has established a holistic and multidimensional response to the terrorist threat, which embodies the approach of the government and the entire Company.

“This approach aims to strengthen institutional resilience in security, socio-economic and religious areas,” he pointed out.

In this regard, “effective institutional frameworks have been established by promulgating strong anti-terrorist laws and creating specialized bodies for the implementation of national anti-terrorist measures,” he said.

That, explained Mr. Chekkori, includes focusing on four key elements to strengthen institutional capacity, i.e. establishing solid plans, procedures and resources to deal with different types of threats, sharing intelligence and information between relevant agencies and organizations to identify potential threats and take appropriate actions, coordination and cooperation that includes effective communication, collaboration and joint operations to improve comprehensive response capacity and adaptive and flexible approaches to adapt strategies and responses to stay ahead of emerging risks and challenges.

However, Mr. Chekkori noted that “security and judicial measures are important, but insufficient in themselves.” It is absolutely necessary to develop comprehensive strategies capable of dealing with all dimensions of terrorism. More importantly, vulnerabilities,” he said.

“Aware of this critical dimension, Morocco has taken several important measures such as the creation of the Mohammed VI Institute for the Training of Imams Morhidin and Morhidat, which plays a key role,” he stressed, recalling the important role played by the National Initiative for Human Development ( INDH), initiated by H.V. King Mohammed VI, in the fight against socio-economic factors that can lead to radicalization and violent extremism.

Mr. Chekkori also cited the Moussalah program as another cornerstone of Morocco’s overall approach to counter-terrorism, specifying that it is “an initiative specifically designed to rehabilitate and reintegrate ex-terrorist prisoners into society.”

“The success of the Moussalah program underscores the importance of preventing the roots of extremism and addressing its consequences through compassion and sustained community support,” he asserted, noting that in this context “our call for revitalized regional cooperation, based on a solid institutional framework, becomes not only relevant but also imperative”.

With this in mind, “promoting closer institutional cooperation would effectively contribute to inclusive and collaborative responses that effectively respond to the specific needs of African countries, in line with the principle of ownership, and tailored to the specific needs of African countries,” he said.

He noted that “Morocco has always been committed to strengthening regional institutional cooperation against terrorism, drawing inspiration from the lessons and successes of its national strategy” in this area, he said.

The official emphasized Morocco’s commitment in this area, recalling that “Moroccan security services shared key information that enabled their counterparts in other countries to prevent deadly terrorist attacks and plots.”

At the regional level, in 2022, Morocco, in cooperation with the United Nations Office on Counter-Terrorism (UNOCT), launched the “Marrakech Platform for Heads of African Security and Counter-Terrorism Agencies,” he said.

Regarding the establishment of a coordinated approach and capacity-building, “Morocco has succeeded in establishing bilateral capacity-building programs,” he continued, adding that the Kingdom welcomed the UNOCT Program Office for Counter-Terrorism Training in Africa, which is a key mechanism to effectively promote capacity to fight terrorism and build institutions in Africa”.

“Morocco has adopted a global approach, particularly addressing the ideological dimension of radicalization and contributing to the re-establishment of the true tradition of Islam,” he underlined, citing, in this regard, “the creation by Mohammed VI of the African Ulema Foundation, which aims to unite and guide Muslim scholars in promoting a peaceful interpretation of Islam throughout Africa,” he said.

He confirmed that “Morocco continues to prioritize the concerns of Africa in fulfilling various international responsibilities”.

“In its current capacity as co-chair of the African Focus Group of the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS, and in its previous capacity as co-chair of the Global Anti-Terrorism Forum, the Kingdom has always presented the priorities and urgent challenges of African countries in terms of preventing and fighting terrorism and violent extremism,” he pointed out. he.

Mr. Chekkori reaffirmed Morocco’s deep conviction that the prevention and fight against the scourge of terrorism must be based on a global and coherent approach that advocates collective responsibility, inclusivity, indivisible security, solidarity and ownership, as key elements.

“In this sense, the Kingdom is committed to continuing dialogue and exchange, in the spirit of trust, openness and constructive engagement, in order to jointly oppose this threat,” he said.