Smail Chergui, African Union (AU) Commissioner for Peace and Security, said African countries were concerned about the possible return of between 3,000 and 6,000 youths who joined the Islamic State (IS).
The commissioner said on Wednesday in Algiers that the youth fighters, returning home to join terrorist groups in the Middle East were real threat to Africa.
He urged African nations to draw up a “de-radicalisation system” to encourage people to adopt more moderate views in terms of religion.
Chergui said this had become very urgent because no country in the region was safe from terrorist acts.
He also said that establishment of Africa’s police cooperation mechanism (Afripol) had become essential.
According to him, Afripol will boost cooperation and coordination of efforts among African police bodies to efficiently deal with the spread of transnational terrorism and organized crime.
Chergui pleaded for identifying the real causes of radicalism and putting a strategy that deterred youngsters from taking to violence.
He said that military action was not enough to fight against terrorism, stressing that governments should launch economic projects that generated jobs for youths and met their socio-economic needs.
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