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| Gambian leader, Yahya Jammeh |
The president of the Republic
has called for concerted efforts to combat terrorism on the continent,
condemning the current string of violence in Nigeria, meted out on innocent
civilians by the group ‘Boko Haram’.
Speaking at the Banjul
International Airport Friday evening upon his return from Nigeria where he took
part in a human security summit as part of activities marking that country’s
centenary, His Excellency Shiekh Prof. Alh. Dr. Yahya Jammeh lamented the
myriad of proxy wars on the continent, noting that such could only
retard progress.
“It has to be a concerted effort to
fight terrorism,” he reiterated, calling on African leaders to work together
and fight the common enemy – terrorism and other violent crimes.
The Gambian leader said it is his
conviction that if everyone is committed to the fight against terrorism, there
wouldn’t be any such menace in that they [terrorists] would not be safe
anywhere to perpetuate acts of violence against innocent people.
“We the heads of states have
realised that whatever group they are called in Nigeria, it is a criminal
enterprise,” he remarked, questioning the wisdom of killing innocent people in
the name of Islam. “So terrorism is not for one country to fight it,
especially we in Africa given the porosity of our borders,” he told reporters.
Jammeh also condemned the fact that
certain “crooks” are being used by outside forces in the name of religion or
tribe to take on a government in a country that is rapidly developing.
