Over 1,000 terror / rebel groups operating in Africa — Nigerian diplomat

Former Minister of External Affairs and Nigeria’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations Ibrahim Gambari called on African countries to strengthen their defense capacities, develop advanced technologies and build a security architecture

More than a thousand rebel groups are operating across Africa, posing a serious threat to peace and security in the continent, former Minister of External Affairs and Nigeria’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations Ibrahim Gambari said.

“We have to first secure our countries before we can secure our regions and then the continent,” the Nigerian Tribune newspaper quoted him as saying during the opening ceremony of Africa’s first-ever Chiefs of Defense Staff Summit.

“Securing Nigeria has placed Nigeria at the forefront of securing the region and continent. There are over 1,000 insurgency groups operating in Africa,” he said and called on African countries to strengthen their defense capacities, develop advanced technologies and build a security architecture.

The summit’s main topics is “Combating contemporary threats to regional peace and security in Africa: the role of strategic defense collaboration.”

According to the Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace and Security of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Abdel-Fatau Musah, who spoke on behalf of ECOWAS President Omar Touray, the Sahel counties account for 51% of deaths linked to terrorism in 2024. He called on the United Nations to provide at least 75% of the funding for counter-terrorism operations in Africa.

Nigeria’s Chief of the General Staff Christopher Musa noted that hostilities in Africa have shifted from traditional battlefields to the cyber and other asymmetric spheres, which requires modernization of African armies.