This archive report was first published on 12 July 2019.
On July 12, 2019, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres addressed the African Regional High-level Conference on Counter-Terrorism at the UN complex in Gigiri, Kenya.
He stressed the importance of strong and clear mandates backed by sufficient, predictable, and sustainable financial support for African peace enforcing and counter-terrorism operations to succeed.
Guterres urged the international community to support African countries, particularly those in regions where terrorism is spreading rapidly, and encouraged African countries to forge partnerships to strengthen their resilience and capacity to fight terrorism.
"Tremendous growth in Africa should not be affected by terrorism," Guterres said. "We believe in the African leadership's ability to develop African solutions. Terrorism and violent extremism cannot be won through enforcement alone."
He emphasized the need for strong financial support, backed by respect for human rights and strong political will, to defeat terrorism.
Kenya has been calling for the listing of Al Shabaab as a terrorist organization under United Nations Security Council Resolution 1267 of 1999.
President Uhuru Kenyatta also spoke at the forum, calling on the African Union to generate a powerful political consensus for confronting and defeating terrorism and all other forms of violent extremism conducive to terrorism.
