‘African countries incapable of dealing with terrorism in isolation’

By Modou S. Joof 

 

Dr. Abdullahi Shehu has said “most African countries are incapable of dealing with the problems” associated with terrorism in isolation due to many challenges confronting them.

The Director General of the Inter-Governmental Action Group against Money Laundering in West Africa, GIABA, said on 13 May, 2013 that the impact of terrorist acts which are manifested in various dimensions is widespread.

In a paper addressing “Peace and Security in Africa: The Challenges of the Fight against Terrorism in the Context of Maintaining International Peace and Security“, he told the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), “that the patterns and locations of these terrorist acts depend on the ideology, intents and capability of the perpetrators”.

While most terrorist activities have been driven by extremist and political motivations, Dr. Shehu says: “We are yet to see perhaps a devastating pattern if terrorist groups are driven by a feeling of deprivation, hunger, poverty and unemployment, and that may be even more difficult to control in a country.”

Close ranks

Speaking at the UNSC Open Debate on Combating Terrorism in Africa in the Context of Peacekeeping and International Security in New York, the GIABA Director General called on national, regional and international actors to close ranks in order to effectively fight the menace of terrorism in Africa.

He noted that the factors exacerbating terrorism include: “Political corruption, weaknesses in the legal framework and institutional mechanisms for the prevention of terrorists acts, inadequate skills and manpower for effective law enforcement, insufficient resources yet competing priorities, and inadequate inter-agency cooperation within countries and internationally.”

“Any strategic approach to the prevention and control of terrorism must also address the financing aspects of terrorism,” he said.

Press Release: GIABA trains West African accountants on AML/CFT requirements in Banjul

The Inter-Governmental Action Group against Money Laundering in West Africa (GIABA) will organize a regional training on anti-money laundering and counter-financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) requirements for accountants from the five English-speaking countries in West Africa. The workshop will hold from 11 to 12 September, 2013 in Banjul, The Gambia.

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) revised standards place obligations on accounting professionals to adopt and implement anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) measures, including  risk assessment and application of the Risk-Based Approach to AML/CFT implementation, Customer identification/Customer Due Diligence, record keeping  and  reporting of suspicious transactions.
The main objective of the programme is to enhance the capacity of accountants on the revised FATF Recommendations to enable them fulfill their obligations.

In 2012, the GIABA Secretariat held a sensitization programme in Dakar, Senegal, for Accountants from Francophone member States. The initiative was a first step in sensitizing Accountants and Auditors on their roles in strengthening their countries’ AML/CFT regimes. A major resolution at that programme was that GIABA should sustain efforts to create awareness among the Association of Accountants and urge member States to direct professional bodies to create self-regulatory bodies within relevant sectors to further drive AML/CFT compliance. The current programme is therefore, designed for Accountants from the Anglophone member States and is part of GIABA’s commitment to sensitize and support accountants from benefiting member States to effectively implement robust AML/CFT measures.

GIABA calls for re-examining of laws against money laundering, financing terrorism in W/Africa

By Lamin Jahateh

There is a need to re-examine the anti-money laundering and counter-financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) measures in West African countries to ensure they do not induce superficial compliance by countries, said the director general of the Inter-Governmental Action Group against Money Laundering in West Africa (GIABA), Dr Abdullahi Shehu.

Dr Shehu observed that the current AML/CFT framework may force money launderers and extremist groups to make frequent tactical changes and thus produces more grievances or fertile grounds for the recruitment of new set of criminals. 

Most parts of the AML/CFT framework of countries in the sub-region are products of imperfect and incomplete information, hence the need to establish and address the root causes of terrorism to ensure the successes recorded by the AML/CFT framework are enduring, Dr Shehu said while presenting a paper on the challenges of implementing  counter-financing of terrorism regimes in West Africa at the training workshop on AML/CFT for North and West African states organised by the Swiss Confederation and the Federal Republic of Nigeria in collaboration with Giaba held in Abuja, Nigeria, from December 11 to 13, 2012.  

“The benefits of implementing effective AML/CFT regimes are enormous,” the Giaba DG said. “Giaba will continue to support its members to implement effective AML/CFT measures that facilitate optimal deployment of resources and proper sequencing of intervention activities.”

For him, the adoption of international AML/CFT standards is not the magic wand towards eradicating money laundering and financing terrorism, but they are milestones towards building enabling framework that would provide the roadmap for achieving the ultimate goal of a crime-free society.

He said Giaba, an arm of ECOWAS established to fight money laundering and terrorist financing in West Africa, is mandated to develop strategies and mechanisms for the prevention and control of the twin crimes in the sub-region.