MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 17th April, 2020) The global COVID-19 emergency might lead to increased activity of terrorists and criminal groups in Africa while armies are distracted by efforts to tackle the pandemic, the AU peace and security commissioner told Sputnik.
"Indeed we are also in contact with our member states in terms of increasing their awareness about the fact that terrorist groups and criminal networks will be more active than before during this time. Most of the countries are appealing to the armies to help combat COVID-19, which means that they are maybe liberating other spaces that can be used by terrorist groups ... We are working with Interpol, Afripol to alert or increase the work on the borders between our member-states so that they can avert such criminal activities," Smail Chergui said.
"We have the Sahel, where criminals and terrorists are still killing people; Lake Chad basin, and indeed in Somalia, where the terrorist Shabaab groups are still active - and even in Mozambique these last days. So I think these are not only terrorists, I'm sure there are lots of criminals involved in drug trafficking, for example ... We need prevention, we need cooperation, we need to reinforce our law enforcement agencies and our coordination," he stressed.
Chergui noted, however, that the most difficult situation remains that in Libya.
