ANNEX

European Union action to support the African Union in the fight against terrorism

Description of the action

The Convention on the Prevention and Combating of Terrorism, signed in Algiers on 14 July 1999 by the member countries of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), is the first instrument specifically designed to combat terrorism across the entire African continent.

This convention contains a definition of terrorism (1), the obligation to classify terrorist acts as crimes under national law, the undertaking not to support terrorist activities, the obligation for states to cooperate in combating terrorism by exchanging information, and provisions on the extradition of terrorists and on facilitating criminal investigations by foreign authorities on national territory.

On this basis, the African Union (AU), which replaced the OAU in 2001, approved the Plan of Action on the Prevention and Combating of Terrorism in Africa on 14 September 2002 in Algiers. The plan aims to implement the OAU Convention by means of specific measures.

In particular, Section H of the Plan of Action provides for the creation of the African Centre for Study and Research on Terrorism (ACSRT), with responsibility for carrying out training measures, conducting studies on terrorism, setting up a database system for gathering, exchanging and analysing intelligence, as well as for terrorism-related surveillance and alerts. The Centre has a correspondent, called the ‘focal point’, in each country.

Content of the project

The EU's support for the AU in the fight against terrorism forms part of a phased approach which makes it possible to identify cooperation needs and the added value of a measure.

A joint seminar will be organised by the ACSRT in the second half of 2007 in Addis Ababa in which the EU will offer to evaluate the national counter-terrorism arrangements of the African countries and to provide advice on reorganisation. An action plan will be presented during this seminar. At the end, those countries wishing to participate in the implementation of the plan and to host an audit mission on their territory can express their desire to do so. This plan involves carrying out audit missions to improve the organisation of counter-terrorism in Africa.

In a second phase, missions to evaluate the AU countries' local counter-terrorism capacities will be carried out in those countries which request them at the end of the seminar. The audit teams will evaluate the countries' counter-terrorism capacities in situ in order to suggest improvements in a report drawn up by the Head of Mission and then forwarded to the ACSRT, which will be responsible for sending it to the Council for communication to the Member States.

In a third phase and on the basis of these evaluations, the ACSRT (with the agreement of the EU) will make recommendations to the audited countries, which will be responsible for implementing their conclusions.

Arrangements for implementing the joint action

In receiving CFSP funds, the ACSRT is given a central role in the implementation of the Joint Action. The ACSRT will take charge of the organisation of the Addis Ababa seminar. In order to prepare the audit missions, it will be in permanent contact with the States which have accepted the action plan; it will also manage the missions in operational and financial terms and play a coordinating role. The Member States will be briefed regularly on the progress of this Joint Action which will take place over a period of 18 months.

A seminar bringing together two representatives from the 53 countries of the AU, Morocco, the UNODC, the ACSRT and each EU Member State, as well as the EU Counter-terrorism Coordinator, will be held in Addis Ababa, seat of the AU, in the second half of 2007. The representatives will be high-level experts and senior officials.

Opened by a representative of the AU, it will include contributions by:

The seminar will close with the presentation of an action plan drawn up in advance by the EU proposing missions, for those countries wishing to have them, to audit national counter-terrorism arrangements and give advice on reorganisation.

The provisional budget for the seminar will cover the travel and subsistence expenses of the representatives of the 53 countries of the AU and of Morocco, the representatives from Europe and from the international organisations, as well as a preparatory mission and a mission to put the logistics of the seminar in place. The working languages of the seminar will be those of the AU: English, French, Arabic and Portuguese.

At the close of the seminar, the African states will state whether they wish to receive an audit mission or not. The audit teams will be made up of two specialists from the EU Member States and one member of the ACSRT. They must have free access to all relevant information and their aim will be to evaluate the counter-terrorism arrangements in each State. At the end of their mission, they will draft reports containing recommendations, which, if accepted by the authorities of the audited countries, will be implemented by these authorities with monitoring by the ACSRT.

(1)  Article 1(3) of this Convention defines a ‘terrorist act’ as ‘any act which is a violation of the criminal laws of a State Party and which may endanger the life, physical integrity or freedom of, or cause serious injury or death to, any person, any number or group of persons or causes or may cause damage to public or private property, natural resources, environmental or cultural heritage and is calculated or intended to:

The definition in this Article also covers the financing of terrorism, insofar as it includes ‘any promotion, sponsoring, contribution to, command, aid, incitement, encouragement, attempt, threat, conspiracy, organizing, or procurement of any person, with the intent to commit any act referred to in [the preceding] paragraph.’