Security beefed as Heads of State meet in Nairobi for Africa peace summit

Nairobi, Kenya: Kenya will Tuesday host a one day Africa Union Peace and Security Council Summit on Terrorism, to be attended by a number of Heads of State and Government from the continent. Six presidents have already arrived Nairobi for the meeting. These include Presidents of Chad, Niger, Nigeria, Somalia, Tanzania, and Uganda. Prime Ministers of Namibia and Algeria will lead their countries’ delagations as will Burundi First Vice President. Security is tight in Nairobi as the meeting gets underway. The group had expressed deep concern over the continued threat posed by terrorism in Africa, particularly in the Sahelo-Saharan region, the Horn of Africa, including in Somalia, Kenya and Djibouti, as well as in the Central African region with the attacks carried by the Lord Resistance Army (LRA). The meeting is expected to agree on concrete steps meant to enhance the ongoing efforts to effectively address the threat of terrorism, including the early ratification and domestication of the relevant AU and international instruments.
The summit will also seek ways of mobilising for additional support to Africa’s efforts and the enhancement of international coordination and collaboration in the war against terror. It is also expected that during the meeting, regional leaders will agree on practical steps to enhance the implementation of the AU counter-terrorism framework at national, regional and continental levels. The summit comes at a time when radicalism, extremism and terrorism are on the rise in the continent.