Iftikhar Ali
UNITED NATIONS, Aug 08 (APP): Pakistan has called for a multidimensional approach to combat terrorism and violent extremism in the West Africa Sahel region, while underscoring the need to focus not only on kinetic actions but on the underlying root causes in an effort to build peace and stability in the region.
Speaking in the UN Security Council, Pakistani delegate Asif Khan said that regional engagement was “crucial” for collective security architecture to effectively counter terrorism, including cross-border terrorism.
In this regard, he welcomed recent efforts by Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the African Union “to expedite counter-terrorism coordination mechanisms and encourage continued support to African-led solutions”.
“Terrorism presents a clear danger,” Asif Khan, a minister at the Pakistan Mission to the UN, told the 15-member Council which held a briefing on the activities of United Nations Office for West Africa and the Sahel (UNOWAS).
He sounded alarm at the expanding operations of terrorist groups such as Jama’a Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin (JNIM) and the Islamic State Sahel Province (ISSP), also noting an increase in cross-border terror incidents as well as evidence of transnational inter-linkages between terrorist groups and criminal networks.
“Of particular concern”, the Pakistani delegate added, was the use of unmanned aerial systems and improvised explosive devices by these terrorist groups.
At the same time, Asif Khan noted the Security Council played a pivotal role in advancing peace and security in the region, particularly through the deployment of United Nations peacekeeping missions.
Pakistan, he said, had contributed to the Council’s peace and security agenda by providing peacekeepers to various UN missions. “We take pride in our contributions to UN’s efforts and successful endeavors to restore peace in several countries, including Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Cote d’Ivoire.”
“The international community must support efforts to strengthen governance structures and enhance the capacities of local institutions, in line with nationally identified needs and priorities,” Khan told delegates.
“We are encouraged by the progress under the United Nations Integrated Strategy for the Sahel, particularly the launch of its ten flagship programmes, which provide a comprehensive and nationally owned framework for addressing interconnected challenges.”
The Pakistani delegate also pushed for reform of the international financial architecture so that it could enhance its ability to effectively support developing countries, particularly those in West Africa and the Sahel, in accessing adequate, affordable, and sustainable financing for their long-term development needs.
In conclusion, he reaffirmed Pakistan’s support to all initiatives that advance peace, stability, and development in the region.
At the outset of the debate, the head of the UN Office for West Africa and the Sahel, Leonardo Santos Simao, said that terrorist activity in the region “has surged in scale, complexity and sophistication, including through the use of drones, alternative internet communication, and increasing collusion with transnational organized crime,” and said this “growing insecurity compounds an already dire humanitarian situation.”
Sima Sami Bahous, executive director of UN Women, said that “life for women and girls under terrorist control is one of erasure from public space”. Their freedom, movement, and appearance are policed and restricted. In Niger, Mali, and Burkina Faso, over one million girls are out of school because of attacks or threats.
Abduction is not a by-product of terrorism in the Sahel, it is a tactic, Ms. Bahous warned. In Burkina Faso alone, the number of women and girls abducted rose by over 218 per cent in 2024. Across the wider region, 60 per cent of out-of-school girls have never set foot in a classroom.
“When a girl loses her education, she becomes vulnerable to mutilation, to early marriage, to early pregnancy, and to trafficking,” she emphasized.