The Council of Ministers of the Interior of the UMA countries to intensify cooperation

Nouakchott – The Council of Interior Ministers of the countries of the Arab Maghreb Union (UMA) stressed the need to intensify cooperation and dialogue in the Maghreb in order to jointly tackle security challenges facing the region and to reinvigorate mechanisms to address the root causes of terrorism and dry up its moral and material sources.

The Council also stated, at the end of work of its 5th meeting held Thursday in Nouakchott, the importance of strengthening cooperation between the AMU countries, bilaterally and multilaterally, in terms of instantaneous exchange information, and intensified cooperation and coordination between specialized security services.

The Council recalled, by the same token, the contents of the Declaration having sanctioned its meeting in Rabat on 21 April 2013, concerning in particular the creation of a monitoring committee to implement its decisions and recommendations, and the establishment of working groups to ensure coordination between the national departments concerned by the fight against terrorism, organized crime, cyber crime, drug trafficking and narcotics and illegal immigration, and more protection civil.

The council, however, has expressed its firm belief that security solutions are not sufficient in themselves to meet these challenges, focused on the need for a holistic approach that takes into consideration all the cultural dimensions , educational, religious, economic and social, in order to address the root causes of these security challenges, while involving citizens in efforts to fight against terrorism.

He also stressed the intensification of control over the Internet, particularly social networks, as they represent the main tools used by terrorist groups to attract young people and send them to trouble spots, recommending a perfect control of money laundering in order to dry the sources of terrorist financing.

The council also expressed, in its meeting, vivid vis-à-vis the concerns of developments in the situation in some North African countries caused by the deepening of cross-border threats such as terrorism, organized crime, weapons proliferation, drug trafficking, illegal immigration, human trafficking, among other phenomena that the Council described foreign to the North African community and its values ​​based on the golden mean, moderation, tolerance and openness .

Asserting that these phenomena constitute a danger to the security and stability of the Maghreb region and his entourage, the Council condemned the terrorist acts that have targeted certain countries of the Maghreb and that caused the death of civilians and elements of power armed and security.

AMU’s interior ministers have also put emphasis on the need to share successful experiences of member countries of the Union, through the exchange of expertise, know-how, and legislation, organizing field visits and intensifying cooperation in the field of training.

The Council has also declared 18 March of each year, coinciding with the holding of the first meeting of the Council of Ministers of the Interior of the AMU countries, North African Day of Civil Protection.

It has, in this sense, decided to submit the draft of the Maghreb cooperation agreement in the field of civil protection to member countries to formulate their remarks and suggestions before adopting its final version.

In another development, the Council welcomed the availability of Tunisia to host its 6th meeting, whose date will be determined later, when he decided to hold the meeting of the working group in charge of the fight against terrorism, organized crime and cybercrime on 8 and 9 June in Tunis.

The Mauritanian capital will host, in turn, the meeting of the Monitoring Committee at a date to be fixed later, and the meeting of the committee in charge of civil protection, scheduled for the 2nd week of March.

The meeting of the working group on the fight against drug trafficking and narcotics will be held on 10 and 11 June in Algiers, and that of the group in charge of the fight against illegal immigration is planned for 29 and 30 September at the headquarters of the general secretariat of the AMU in Rabat.

Speaking at the closing of the 5th Board meeting, the Interior Minister, Mohamed Assad, stressed in a statement on behalf of the delegations present in Nouakchott, that this session will strengthen the security processes in the Maghreb countries in the fight against terrorism and organized crime that knows the area.