UNDERSTANDING TERRORISM IN AFRICA: IN SEARCH FOR AN AFRICAN VOICE 6 and 7 November 2006 Edited by Wafula Okumu and Anneli Botha Seminar Series Sponsored by: UNDERSTANDING TERRORISM IN AFRICA IN SEARCH FOR AN AFRICAN VOICE Edited by Wafula Okumu and Anneli Botha 6 and 7 November 2006 The vision of the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) is one of a stable and peaceful Africa characterised by sustainable develop- ment, human rights, the rule of law, democracy and collaborative security. As an applied policy research institute with a mission to conceptualise, inform and enhance the debate on human security in Africa the organisation supports policy formulation and decision making at every level towards the enhancement of human security for all in Africa. The Institute supports this vision and mission by undertaking applied research, training and capacity building; working collaboratively with others; facilitating and supporting policy formulation; monitoring trends and policy implementation; and collecting, interpreting and disseminating information. It should be noted that any opinions expressed in this report are the responsibility of the participants in the workshop and not of the CPRD, its Board or Council of Advisors or of the ISS, its Advisory Council, the Trustees or any funder or sponsor of CPRD or the ISS. © Institute for Security Studies, 2007 Copyright in the volume as a whole is vested in the Institute for Security Studies, and no part may be reproduced in whole or in part without the express permission, in writing, of the ISS. ISBN-10: 1-920114-14-9 ISBN-13: 978-1-920114-14-9 Published by the Institute for Security Studies Institute for Security Studies PO Box 1787, Brooklyn Square Tshwane (Pretoria) 0075 SOUTH AFRICA Tel: +27 12 346 9500/2 Fax: +27 12 460 0998 email: [email protected] www.issafrica.org Typesetting by Marketing Support Services +27 12 346 2168 Printed by Business Print Centre Cover Photo by Joao Silva / PictureNET Africa Caption: Taken in Soweto, South Africa on 30 October 2002. A member of a Muslim community in Soweto prays in front of a mosque which was severely damaged during a spate of bombings across Soweto. Contents About the authors . .iii Foreword . vii Panel 1: The African understanding of terrorism Defi ning and mapping threats of terrorism in Africa . 3 Gani Yoroms The history and root causes of terrorism in Africa . 15 Sam Makinda Africa’s vulnerability to terrorism and its ability to combat it . 23 Anneli Botha Panel 2: Impact of terrorism and counter-terrorism in Africa The impact of terrorism and counter-terrorism in Africa on leadership, governance and democracy . 45 Abdel Aziz Shady The effects of counter-terrorism measures on human rights . 51 The experiences of east african countries George Kegoro The price of counter-terrorism in Africa . 59 Fool’s gold or genuine gold? Donovan Chau Africa’s role in America’s ‘war on terrorism’ . 67 Some political implications Alamin Mazrui Panel 3: Building partnerships for preventing and combating terrorism in Africa Engaging religious communities and building partnerships . 77 Cedrick Mayson Building partnerships with the United States in combating terrorism . 81 Mike Hurley The role of the United Nations in providing technical assistance in Africa. 85 Anton du Plessis Building regional partnerships. 93 Perspectives from the IGAD region Richard Barno Understanding terrorism in Africa: In search for an African voice Panel 4: Challenges of preventing and combating terrorism in Africa Detection and prevention of terrorist threats . 103 Boinett Wilson The arrest and prosecution of terrorist suspects . 107 Edwin Okello Challenges of preventing and combating terrorism in Africa . 111 Defending terrorism suspects Mbugua Mureithi Judging terrorism cases . 117 Paul Mugamba Panel 5: In search of a comprehensive counter-terrorism strategy Terrorism, media and the search for an African voice . 123 Salim Lone In search of a counter-terrorism strategy . 127 The role of civil society Felicity Harrison Human rights, terrorism and the interests of a secure society . 131 Jody Kollapen Role of the international community . 135 Kurt Schillinger List of participants . 139 ii About the authors Gani Yoroms Afrikaans University that focused on the historical development Dr Gani Yoroms is currently a senior research fellow and director of terrorism, religious extremism and PAGAD (People Against of the Department of Defence and Security Studies of the African Gangsterism and Drugs). She has a specifi c interest in the un- Centre for Strategic Research and Training at the National War derlying causes of terrorism, including the stages in the develop- College, Nigeria. He has served as a Fellow of SSRC-Mac-Arthur ment of terrorism, terrorism in Africa, and the implementation of at the famous Watson Institute of International Studies, Brown effective counter-terrorism strategies. University, Rhode Island, US. Dr Yoroms has attended and par- ticipated in local and international conferences, including collo- Abd El-Aziz M Shady quia organised by the Peace Studies Programs of the Haverford, Professor Abd El-Aziz Shady is an associate professor and director Bryn Marr and Swarthmore Colleges, Pennsylvania, US. He was of the Program for Terrorism Studies and Research at the Faculty instrumental in working with the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES) in of Economics and Political Sciences at the University of Cairo in the establishment of the West African Network on Security and Egypt. Since 1987, Professor Shady has taught at a number of in- Democratic Governance (WANSED), an organisation that brings stitutions, including Leiden University in the Netherlands, Tanta together research institutions and civil societies in West Africa University, Fayoum University, October Six University, and the to work on security sector reform in the sub-region. He has Institute of International Trade and Management in Egypt. While served as a member of various panels, including the Committee at Leiden University, he completed his master’s degree (in 1996) for the Formulation of Peace Support Operation Doctrine for the in Islamic Studies. As a Fulbright scholar at the Department Nigerian Army, which has eventually been adopted as a docu- of Political Science, Siena College, New York, US, Professor ment for the Nigeria military. Dr Yoroms has published widely in Shady taught a course on Middle Eastern politics and women local and international journals and books. and politics. His current research interests include religion and democratisation in the Arab world, Palestinian democracy and Samuel M Makinda national struggle, Christian perceptions of Islam in the US, and Professor Samuel Makinda is Professor of Security Studies and the absence of the nation-state and terrorism in the Middle East. International Relations at Murdoch University, Perth, Australia, where he heads the Security, Terrorism and Counter-Terrorism George Kegoro Programme and the discipline of Politics and International George Kegoro graduated in law from the University of Nairobi, Studies. Professor Makinda is a member of the Australian Foreign Kenya, in 1991. He has worked for the government of Kenya as Minister’s National Consultative Committee for International a state counsel and served as secretary to the Law Society of Security Issues and is also on the Council for Security Kenya until early last year. He also served as the secretary to the Cooperation in the Asia-Pacifi c, a track-two diplomacy frame- Commission of Inquiry into the Goldenberg Affair that was es- work. He previously worked with the Foreign Affairs Section tablished by the Kenya government in 2003. He currently serves of the Parliamentary Research Service at the Australian Federal as country researcher for Kenya for the Anti-Money Laundering Parliament in Canberra, where he advised MPs, senators, par- and Organised Crime Programme of the ISS. George Kegoro was liamentary committees and ministers. Professor Makinda is a involved in the search for justice in US courts for the victims of former editor of the Daily Nation and a political correspondent the Nairobi bombing of the US embassy in1998. Those proceed- of The Weekly Review in Nairobi. He has published extensively. ings are still pending in the US. He has also been involved in the critical review of Kenyan counter-terrorism legislation and Anneli Botha co-ordinated a committee of the Law Society that produced an Anneli Botha is a senior researcher on terrorism at the Institute alternative draft than that published by government. He currently for Security Studies (ISS) in Pretoria. After completing an works as a consultant on governance and reforms. honours degree in International Politics, she joined the South African Police Service, Crime Intelligence, in 1993 where she Alamin Mazrui focused on, inter alia, terrorism and religious extremism. In Alamin Mazrui is Professor of African American and African 1999 she obtained an MA (Political Studies) degree from Rand Studies at Ohio State University and visiting professor in the iii Understanding terrorism in Africa: In search for an African voice Department of Africana Studies at Rutgers University. He holds and director of the counterterrorism policy investigation. In the a doctorate degree in linguistics from Stanford University with course of the investigation into the September 11 attacks on the specialisation in the political sociology of language. He has US, the team he headed interviewed more than 150 offi cials taught in universities in Kenya and Nigeria and has served as and reviewed hundreds of thousands of pages of sensitive docu- a consultant to non-governmental organisations in Africa on ments. On 9/11 Michael Hurley volunteered to work in the CIA’s subjects such as language and urbanisation, and language and Counterterrorist Center and to deploy to Afghanistan. He served the law. Until recently he wwas a member of the board of three tours in Afghanistan post-9/11, leading Agency employees directors of the Kenya Human Rights Commission and of the and Special Forces in southeastern Afghanistan.