Collective efforts needed to deal with terror attacks
The magnitude of the near-simultaneous bombings and shootings in Paris has left France reeling in shock. With nearly 130 people dead, along with eight suicide bombers, it is Europe's worst terrorist attack since the 2004 Madrid train bombings.
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The attack raises new and pressing questions about the ability of Western security forces to prevent such random carnage.
When the West is unable to deal with this chronic security threat that is plaguing the world, it leaves Africa’s security vulnerable to the surging terror threats.
In parts of West Africa such as Nigeria and Cameroon, the military's reorganisation to cope with terror threats leaves unanswered the charge that those countries have become soft spots for kidnappers.
The concern is that terror groups controlling vast, poorly governed parts of sub-Saharan Africa may make fewer headlines than those active in the Middle East. But terror groups in Africa pose a challenge to stability and are a menace to security beyond the continent’s borders.
Militants from the Somalia-based group, al-Shabab, massacred nearly 150 Kenyans at a university near the Somali border in April.
In Nigeria, Boko Haram insurgents are estimated to have killed more than 13,000 people and displaced another two million in the country’s impoverished north-east.
Last year, the organisation began terrorising residents of three neighbouring countries, with suicide bombings and attacks on villages.
Though Ghana has not recorded any terror attack, we cannot be complacent, as the global terror group ISIS is spreading its wings looking for new recruits in deprived African states.
It is for this reason that the Daily Graphic is worried by the reported joining of the ISIS group by a university student in Ghana.
President John Mahama had suggested that the AU consider backing a multinational force in West Africa to tackle the Boko Haram insurgency.
But even before that proposal could be considered, some Nigerian diplomats at the African Union, including Wali, fought to scupper the proposed force.
The common thread linking these groups is not a shared religious ideology characterised by extreme violence and intolerance but an appeal that is underpinned by the lack of inclusive political systems or credible attempts by central governments to address the needs of alienated minorities.
The long-term failure of governments in Nairobi, Abuja and Bamako to address political problems mirrors the lax security response to the insurgencies.
The Daily Graphic, therefore, calls on the security agencies in Ghana to begin mounting their surveillance before we are caught off guard by the surging terror threat.
The paper again calls on the security agencies to begin mounting intelligence forces at places of social gathering such as the malls, sports arenas and night clubs to avert any terror disaster.
For us, to effectively confront the terror menace, the government and civil society within the ECOWAS sub-regional bloc must collaborate to ensure both national ownership and the strengthening of collective security strategies.
The Paris attacks should serve as a wake-up call to all.
