21 January 2025
Mr. President, Distinguished Mr. Minister,
We thank Algeria for convening a meeting on such an important issue. We also thank all our briefers.
The security situation on the African continent remains dire. We’ve witnessed a further increase in the activity of terrorist and criminal groups. Almost all regions of Africa are under threat. At the same time, international terrorist organizations are actively radicalizing the local population and inculcate extremist ideology through exploiting inter-ethnic and religious strife, social and economic problems and the weakness of the authorities. To finance their activities, terrorists use illegal mining, drug trafficking, arms and human trafficking. To this end, terrorists have established a nexus with organized crime.
Swift expansion of international terrorism is something that began in African countries after the Western military aggression against Libya in 2011. At that time, under the pretext of the “responsibility to protect” concept, they disrupted Libyan statehood and economy. These tragic events created a breeding ground for enhancing and upscaling the terrorists’ potential on the continent. Today, Western states are speechifying about the so-called conditions conducive to terrorism in Africa, hushing up the fact that their own illegal actions and their miscalculations are on the top of the list of those conditions.
Mr. President,
The seriousness of the challenges facing African States can hardly be overemphasized. Tensions persist in the north-east of Nigeria owing to the activity of Boko Haram terrorists, as well as in Chad, whose authorities have to not only deal with terrorists but also address the issue of numerous refugees fleeing from neighboring Sudan, where a protracted military standoff continues.
In the Horn of Africa, Al-Shabaab is undermining Somalia’s statehood and regional stability. Al-Shabaab has been relentlessly building up its capacity and standing, conducting regular raids and controlling vast areas in the immediate proximity to the capital. In addition, Al-Shabab employs propaganda tools and has deep coffers, which are being replenished by funds extorted in militia-controlled territories and through other illegal activities.
The Somali Government is doing its utmost to counter the challenges posed by the terrorist group. The central authorities have repeatedly carried out large-scale offensive operations against fighter positions and taken targeted measures to counter Al-Shabab’s activities to obtain funding and inculcate its ideology.
An important contribution to curbing terrorist threat is being made by African peacekeepers. At the turn of last year, the Security Council adopted a resolution to replace the African Union Transitional Mission in Somalia with a new African Union Support and Stabilization Mission (AUSSOM) in Somalia, but the adoption process was compounded by a struggle between those who no longer wanted to fund the African peacekeepers in Somalia and those who didn’t want to take on new financial commitments, not even through the African Union-UN partnership mechanism. As a consequence, the issue of AUSSOM funding in the first half of 2025 remains unresolved, despite the assertions made by Somalia’s traditional donors and partners that they support Africans and their aspirations.
Unfortunately, this is by no means the only example of hypocrisy and double standards. They are clearly evident in the Sahel, where Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso and other States are combatting international terrorism almost single-handedly.
Under the pretext of fighting terrorism, former colonial powers continue to impose their military presence in the region. And this presence is no longer welcomed by African countries, inter alia because the ineffectiveness of these so-called counter-terrorism operations by Western countries is more than obvious.
On that note, we welcome the policy adopted by Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso to bolster their own forces and foster mutual coordination, including on counter-terrorism activities targeting the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS) and the Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (GNIM), whose activities in the Liptako-Gourma zone and on the border of the Gulf of Guinea States cause particular concern.
The establishment of the Alliance of Sahel States (ASS) by Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso in September 2023 is something that became a milestone in the fight against terrorism in the Sahel. One of the main goals hereby was crafting a new security and mutual assistance architecture in West Africa. A key objective of the ASS is to jointly combat organized crime and terrorist organizations operating in the Sahel-Saharan region, as well as to prevent and counter military and other threats to the territorial integrity and security of the three states.
We welcome the decision to establish within the Alliance a “Joint Force” to co-ordinate efforts to combat terrorist groups. ASS servicemen are already successfully conducting joint raids against fighter strongholds. In addition to collective measures, the ASS countries are also taking individual measures to bolster the combat readiness of their own armed forces.
Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso are currently at the forefront of the fight against terrorist groups on the continent. They deserve the full support of the international community and that of regional organizations.
Nevertheless, there are still countries seeking to undermine the progress that has been achieved so far. To this end, they are running unscrupulous campaigns geared to spread disinformation and vilify local authorities through media outlets they control. There are also other States that from time to time carry out deliberate actions to subvert peace and security on the continent. The Kiev regime stands out among them. Thus, the official representative of Ukraine’s intelligence, Andrey Yusov, and the Ukrainian ambassador to Senegal, Yuri Pivovarov, confirmed that the “Kiev regime” assisted in the attack on the Malian armed forces on the border with Algeria near Tinzahuaten in July 2024. I would like to stress that this attack was carried out by an al-Qaeda-affiliate group. The response from the Sahel states was swift to come – they decisively condemned Ukraine’s support for international terrorism on the continent and severed diplomatic relations with it.
According to Le Monde, French newspaper, insurgents acting in Mali were trained to operate drones and handle explosives by Ukrainian special services both on Ukrainian territory and on the territory of Mali in terrorist-controlled areas. This is yet another narrative that illustrates the terrorist nature of the Western-backed Kiev regime, which is acting at the behest of, under the supervision of and in close coordination with its NATO mentors, and having no scruples about using outright terrorist methods.
We would also like to remind everyone about the reports provided by African States and European law enforcement (namely by Europol), stating that weapons supplied by Western countries to Ukraine tend to fall into the hands of criminal and terrorist groups in various regions of the world. It is high time that the role of Ukrainian and Western special services in organizing and facilitating terrorist attacks be thoroughly investigated and assessed.
Mr. President,
When building relations with the countries of the region, the Russian Federation is guided by mutual respect. We are closely attuned to the specific characteristics and needs of each and every State. We’d like to reaffirm our willingness to develop coopertaion with Africans within those formats and on those conditions that the Africans deem optimal. We will continue making a constructive contribution to efforts aimed at achieving stability in the region, including through training military and law enforcement personnel by Russian instructors.
We strive to further expand Russia’s cooperation with African states, including within the framework of implementing the Declaration on Strengthening Counter-Terrorism Cooperation adopted at the Second Russia-Africa Summit (St. Petersburg, July 27-28, 2023). The approval of a joint statement on the implementation of the Declaration’s provisions at the first ministerial conference of the Russia-Africa Partnership Forum (Sochi, November 9-10, 2024) gave additional impetus to the development of our relations in this area.
We attach particular importance to specialized technical cooperation within the United Nations Office on Counter-Terrorism (UNOCT). With terrorists trying to resuscitate “ISIS 2.0” on the African continent, it is important now more than ever to bolster the capacity of States of the region and their law enforcement, as well as to strengthen border security and combat terrorist financing. Russia has funded two key UNOCT initiatives in Africa, namely the Global Program aimed at enhancing interagency cooperation in countering terrorism and a project aimed at preventing weapons, improvised explosive devices and drones from falling into the hands of terrorists.
We welcome the positive and, most importantly, practical outcomes of the UNOCT’s work in this regard. In particular, as part of the first initiative I mentioned, there were developed seven training manuals and a modular training course for analysts, there were also conducted trainings with the participation of more than a thousand local law enforcement officers. And as part of the second initiative related to weapons, there were held two major regional events in West and East Africa. The project enhanced the capacity of States of the region and deepened their knowledge about ways to counter the use of weapons and improvised explosive devices by terrorists to carry out attacks.
Russia provided financial support for holding the High-Level African Counter-Terrorism Meeting in Nigeria in April 2024. We are confident that the results achieved will contribute to enhancing the capacity of the States on the continent.
Finally, my country is sending its best specialists as instructors to the UNOCT training center in Rabat. There, they train African law enforcement officers on methods of combating the financing of terrorism and investigating terrorist crimes.
We call on all States to join efforts to enhance the effectiveness and cordination of international cooperation on combating terrorism on the basis of the principles and norms of international law, including those enshrined in the UN Charter, namely the principles of the sovereign equality of States and non-interference in their internal affairs.
Thank you.