By Hassan Benmehdi in Casablanca
for Magharebia
The phenomenon of foreign terrorist fighters has become unprecedented, says Nasser Bourita, the secretary-general of the Moroccan foreign ministry.
The cross-border nature of terrorism demands international co-operation, experts from 40 countries agreed at the GCTF conference in Morocco.
Diplomats, security strategists and top officials from 40 countries met in Marrakech last week to discuss ways of tackling global terrorism.
Prevention, anticipation and co-operation were the watchwords during the December 15th-16th event, which was held under the auspices of the Global Counter-terrorism Forum (GCTF).
During his opening speech, Nasser Bourita, the secretary-general of the Moroccan foreign ministry, underlined that the phenomenon of foreign terrorist fighters has recently grown to unprecedented proportions and was enabling terrorist organisations to acquire large quantities of sophisticated weaponry.
“In addition to all this, we have seen a change in the goals and ambitions of these organisations with the declaration of states and a desire to expand their influence across vast regions, which poses a big threat to the territorial integrity and sovereignty of several countries around the world,” Bourita said.
The worrying growth of the phenomenon of foreign terrorist fighters and its cross-border nature mean that effective international co-operation is vital, said Piet de Klerk, a special envoy from the Netherlands foreign ministry.
The US ambassador to Rabat, Dwight Bush, said that strengthening fruitful and effective security co-operation was the best way of dealing with terrorism.
“The complex and cross-border nature of security challenges calls for a global, inclusive and consistent approach that combines security, the human dimension and the socio-economic aspect,” community activist Mohamed Amine Zahbadi told Magharebia.
He added that rapid adaptation, co-operation and flexibility were major assets to the partnership against terrorist threats.
“The participants in the Marrakech forum agree that no country can tackle terrorism on its own, which is why it is important for countries to work closely together,” noted Driss Kassouri, a professor and researcher of terrorism.
The GCTF is a multilateral and informal political platform that was launched in 2011 to encourage dialogue and co-operation against terrorism between its 30 founding members.
The forum’s activities focused on the Sahel, the Horn of Africa, criminal justice, detention and re-integration, foreign fighters and the fight against violent extremism.
This meeting of the forum, which was co-chaired by Morocco and the Netherlands, provided an opportunity to examine the issues in greater depth and gather together a number of proposals from the member states, which will be adopted over the coming months.
