13 Sep 2004: Statement: African Commitments to Combating Organised Crime and Terrorism
AFRICAN COMMITMENTS TO COMBATING ORGANISED CRIME AND
TERRORISM: A REVIEW OF EIGHT NEPAD COUNTRIES
(A study done by Anneli Botha and Charles Goredema of the Institute
for Security Studies)
Press Release, 13 September 2004 : Pretoria
The Institute for Security Studies (ISS) is one of the seven African
non-governmental research organisations that have come together to measure
the performance of African governments in promoting human security. The
ISS research focus was on assessing the implementation of key commitments
to combat organised crime and terrorism. The study was confined to Algeria,
Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa and Uganda. The
commitments were derived from, and set out in several international treaties
and conventions. The most important were the Treaty Establishing the
African Economic Community (1991), the United Nations Convention against
Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (1988),
the African Union Convention on the Prevention and Combating of Corruption
(2003), and the OAU/AU Convention on the Prevention and Combating of
Terrorism (the Algiers Convention, 1999). The African Union’s
Plans of Action in respect of Terrorism and Drug Control were also considered
as sources of commitments. Only the commitments to which all the reviewed
countries signed up were selected. The study examined drug trafficking,
corruption, money laundering and terrorism.
On the African continent, organised crime impacts on both the inclination
as well as the capacity of state structures to provide security for citizens
and, therefore, threatens human security. One of the fundamental characteristics
of organised crime is its tendency to precipitate economic and social
consequences that are disproportionate to the profits accruing to perpetrators.
Compliance with organised crime commitments was measured mainly through
a survey of legislation and institutions, in existence as well as proposed,
at the time of the study. A detailed insight into capacity was obtained
in most cases through interviews with officials from the public sector.
The study examined specific commitments in respect of drug trafficking
and related money laundering, as well as those relating to the proceeds
of corruption. It found that six countries, namely Algeria, Ethiopia,
Ghana, Kenya, Senegal and Uganda regarded money laundering as a derivative
offence connected to drug trafficking. Only two countries, Nigeria and
South Africa, considered money laundering to be an offence distinct
from the offences from which crime proceeds are derived. The consequence
is that, in these two countries, the net of criminal responsibility was
cast beyond actual participants in drug trafficking, to beneficiaries
upstream or downstream outside immediate criminal business circles.
International obligations to combat money laundering are being adopted
slowly, and their implementation is even slower. The measures prescribed
by international instruments to enhance access to financial information
have gradually been extended beyond narcotics offences to economic offences
generally, corruption, money laundering and, more recently, the funding
of terrorist activities.
African commitments to prevent and combat terrorism date back to the
adoption of the Declaration against Extremism in Dakar, Senegal, in
July 1992, by OAU Heads of State and Government. In assessing national
implementation of the OAU Convention on the Prevention and Combating
of Terrorism, a basic questionnaire was compiled covering all the primary
areas of concern in a national, regional and international counter-terrorism
strategy. This questionnaire also standardized the questions presented
to authorities to make evaluation possible.
We found that countries that have directly experienced the impact of
terrorism, whether domestic or international, were better equipped to
deal with it through integrated intelligence gathering and coordinated
structures. Algeria, Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia and South Africa, already
had established structures to coordinate the activities of security agencies.
In general all the countries reviewed have implemented additional intelligence
gathering and crime prevention measures to make sure that suspected
terrorists did not have easy access to their territories.
In implementing anti-terrorism measures, governments in all countries
face the dilemma of strengthening citizen protection without unduly curtailing
basic human rights. The right to legitimately dissent from the mainstream
tends to be brittle, and easily threatened by security legislation. Governments
need to be able to distinguish between political opposition and terrorism.
On the evidence uncovered by this study, all countries have yet to achieve
an effective balance.
For more information, please contact Prince Mashele at the Institute
for Security Studies, Tel (+27 12) 346 9500, e-mail [email protected] or
visit www.africanreview.org
Issued by the AHSI Secretariat (Institute for Security Studies)
Pretoria , 13 September
2004
