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A high-level parliamentary conference entitled “Understanding the terrorist threat in Africa: new challenges and necessary measures” was held in Doha, the State of Qatar on March 30-31, 2022

The Conference was organized by the UNOCT Programme Office on Parliamentary Engagement in Preventing and Countering Terrorism, in partnership with the African Parliamentary Union (APU) and the Shura Council of the State of Qatar. 

During the conference, representatives of African National Parliaments and Parliamentary Assemblies discussed existing and emerging terrorist threats in the African continent and identified measures to support parliamentarians in mitigating and addressing these threats through technical and capacity-building assistance, including the development or revision of national strategies and action plans to counter terrorism and prevent violent extremism. 

The discussions was held across four sessions, followed by a joint closing segment.

• Session 1 focused on the main current and emerging terrorist threats in the African continent.
• Session 2 discussed the necessary measures to mitigate, prevent and address the current and emerging threats
• Session 3 explored international technical assistance programmes and projects on countering terrorism and the prevention of violent extremism (CT&PVE). 
• Session 4 covered the needs of the parliaments in Africa for technical assistance and capacity building in CT&PVE.

The Conference concluded with a call for a set of measures that contribute to the establishment of an effective CT&PVE network of African parliamentarians.

Participants

At the opening ceremony, addresses included: 

• UN Under-Secretary-General for Counter-Terrorism Mr. Vladimir Voronkov
• Speaker, Shura Council of the State of Qatar H.E. Mr. Hassan bin Abdulla Al-Ghanim
• President, Executive Committee, African Parliamentary Union H.E. Mr. Mohamed Ali Houmed
• President, Inter-Parliamentary Union H.E. Mr. Duarte Pacheco
• UN Under-Secretary-General and Special Adviser on Africa, Ms. Cristina Duarte 
• Special Representative for West Africa and the Sahel and Head of UNOWAS, Mr. Annadif Khatir Mahamat Saleh

The Conference was attended by 115 in-person and over 50 online participants. Parliamentarians of 23 African countries, including speakers of 5 parliaments, attended the conference in person, along with representatives of parliamentary assemblies of the African Parliamentary Union (APU), the Arab Parliament (AP), the Parliament of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the Interparliamentary Committee of G5 Sahel (IP G5 Sahel), the Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean (PAM), the Pan-African Parliament (PAP), the Parliamentary Assembly of OSCE (OSCE-PA), the Parliamentary Assembly of Turkic-speaking Countries (TURKPA), as well as representatives from the International Centre for Sport Security (ICSS), INTERPOL, The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the 51吃瓜 Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate (CTED), and The 51吃瓜 Development Programme (UNDP).