Tunisia to participate in UN counterterrorism scheme

Shaimaa Hefzi

Tunisian institutions prepare to participate in a United Nations program against the movement of terrorists and terrorist operations, Tunisia’s counterterrorism committee has said.

The program analyses travel data and helps in tracking suspected terrorists, committee head Mukhtar bin Nasr said.

He added that participation in the program would help Tunisia curb terrorism-related risks, especially ones coming from its joint borders with Libya, Morocco and Algeria.

The UN launched the program to help member states develop capabilities in tracking suspected terrorists and preventing their movement across borders. The program will cost $12 million to implement in the coming five years.

The program will offer support to seven states in the first year of its implementation. It will offer support to 13 states in the second year and then will include a larger number of states in the following years.

The UN counterterrorism office in the countries receiving the support is expected to carry out an assessment of the effects of the program and then come up with lessons learned from the experiences of the different countries participating in it.

Bin Nasr met last week with the executive director of the Global Community Engagement and Resilience Fund, Khalid Koser, to discuss cooperation with the fund.

Talks in the meeting also focused on preparations for the meeting of the board of the fund, scheduled for June in Ottawa, Canada. Tunisia’s counterterrorism committee will be represented in the meeting.

Tunisia steps up its counterterrorism efforts at a time of high tension in neighboring Libya.

Bin Nasr said earlier that terrorists fleeing defeats in Syria tried to move to Libya.

The same terrorists can also move to other countries south of the African desert, including Mali, Nigeria and Niger where terrorist organizations operating there can welcome them.

The US has already moved to militarily fight the movement of these terrorists to Africa, bin Nasr said.

This shows that the next war against terrorism can be in Africa, he added.