"Okeil": We recommend the UN mechanisms to urgently provide means of technical support to combat the rampant terrorism in Somalia

"Gharib": We call on African mechanisms to strengthen work on Agenda 2063 and its fourth aspiration on peace and security

Maat for Peace, Development and Human Rights issued its monthly report, "Lens of Terrorist Operations and Acts of Violence in Africa, November 2022", which sheds light on the terrorist phenomenon and its qualitative, geographical and numerical transformations.

The report monitored about 1,321 victims during November, not to mention the flagrant human rights violations and raging humanitarian needs throughout the country, especially the eastern region, which came first in terms of the number of victims, with 776 victims. The activity of Al- Shabaab movement increased, making Somalia ranks first in the numerical distribution of countries with 492 victims, as well as the repercussions and developments of the ongoing Tigray war and the atrocities of tribal violence in Sudan.

West Africa comes in second place with 404 victims, followed by Central Africa with 81 victims, and both the northern and southern African regions come with relatively few statistics than their counterparts in the West, Central and East, with about 26 victims in North Africa and 34 in the Southern region.

Commenting on the report, Ayman Okeil, the international human rights expert and president of Maat for Peace, Development and Human Rights, expressed his deep concern about the continued penetration of terrorist activities in the regions of the African continent, which was evident during the last November in the eastern region, especially in Somalia, pointing to the danger of the spread of terrorist organizations that fund their activities through illegal trade in raw materials; such as minerals, salts, gold, silver and diamonds.

International and regional mechanisms concerned with combating violence and terrorism need to direct all means of technical support to combat terrorism and extremist ideology spread in Somalia, and make all efforts to protect the right to life and personal security of civilians in the first place, the human rights expert recommend. Okeil further called on countries suffering from terrorism and organized crime to cooperate with each other to prepare an African guiding mechanism on the best ways to confront the alliance of organized crime gangs and terrorist organizations in Africa.

Said Gharib, a researcher at the Sustainable Development Unit at Maat, recommended the concerned African mechanisms to urgently re-modernize and revitalize the African agenda under the theme "A safe and sound continent", through reforming and revitalizing the continental security institutions, especially the African Peace and Security Council, and strengthening work on the “Silencing the Guns” initiative and the disarm amnesty.