“Afripol”: Close Cooperation Against Terrorism and Organized Crime

Algeria is hosting on Wednesday and Thursday the consultative meeting on the launch of the African police cooperation mechanism known as “Afripol” in the context of strengthening the joint security action.

Take part in this meeting, are representatives of regional African institutions of police cooperation, representatives of Interpol, Europol, Afripol, ASEANAPOL and AMERIPOL and those of the African Centre for Study and Research on Terrorism.

During this broad-based meeting, senior officials of regional organizations of police cooperation will share their respective experiences “by focusing on the best practices especially with regard to information-sharing arrangements at the operational, tactical and strategic level, with a view to ensuring the projected opening of the Afripol secretariat”.

Legal disparities between countries in the fight against cross-border crime will also be discussed at the meeting to bolster the fight against this nefarious phenomenon.

Therefore, the Director General of National Security, Major General Abdelghani Hamel, hailed during the opening session of the consultative meeting of the African organizations of police cooperation “Afripol” the presence at the meeting of representatives of regional police institutions and heads of sub-regional police organizations, which, he said,  “confirms their interest and commitment to the establishment of an effective global police architecture against the threats of terrorism and transnational organized crime.”

To this end, Mr Hamel said: “I am convinced that this representation will allow us during the meeting, to take full advantage of the experience of regional police organizations in order to be able to positively achieve our objectives and to build an organization African police complying with common principles of governance universally accepted.”

He further noted that the contribution of the African organizations of police cooperation “Afripol” constitute a “certain added value” to the new global security architecture in the face of the tragic events that we record every day, sparing no continent, as it demonstrates that the threat is global and diffuse, by leaving puzzled the most effective and best organized police institutions.

For Major General Abdelghani Hamel, the major challenges posed by the new forms of terrorism, radicalization of foreign terrorist fighters, cybercrime, smuggling of drugs and firearms, in addition to migration and humanitarian crises, plagues and other criminals “are threat factors to peace and security at national, regional and international level.”

For his part, the representative of the African Union’s Commission, Tarek Ahmed Sharif expressed on the occasion the gratitude and appreciation of his organization to Algeria for its sustained efforts for the setting up of “Afripol” .

Mr Sharif also highlighted the role of the new security organization in the combined efforts of African countries in their struggle against the various scourges that threaten the security and stability of the continent such as the plagues of terrorism and transnational organized crime.