All Africa
Arabe Presse (Rabat)
Delegate-general of Morocco’s Penitentiary and Reintegration Administration (DGAPR), Mohamed Salah Tamek, highlighted on Monday in Washington Morocco’s multidimensional strategy in the fight against terrorism and extremist ideologies.
“Morocco adopts a multidimensional strategy in the fight against terrorism, which includes, in addition to the security approach, socio-economic, religious, cultural and educational dimensions,” Tamek said at a conference held at the headquarters of US think-tank Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) on security in the Maghreb region.
Since 2002, when the first terror cell was dismantled in Morocco, the Kingdom has set up a strategy in the fight against terror based on countering extremist Salafist discourse, as part of a global vision to reform the religious field on the basis of the Maliki rite and the Ash’ari doctrine, which promote the principles of moderation and the right balance, he pointed out.
This dynamic led to the creation of the Mohammed VI Institute for the Training of Imams, Morchidines and Morchidates (religious preachers) and the Mohammed VI Foundation of African Ulema, which benefits several sub-Saharan countries, he added.
Commenting the issue of foreign fighters, DGPAR’s head shed light on the multidimensional rehabilitation strategy and its “reconciliation” aspect, which aims at reconciling these individuals with themselves first, with the society afterwards and with the authentic precepts of Islam.
On the regional level, Tamek underlined the need for transnational cooperation, as no country can address the issue of terrorism unilaterally.
DGPAR’s head commended Morocco’s successful fight against terrorism and against plots aimed at undermining its security, in full respect of the law, while terrorist attacks in the Maghreb region had multiplied by 47 since 2011, an increase from 50 attacks to 1.105.
