Seminar Report: Understanding Terrorism In Africa: Building Bridges and Overcoming Gaps

The seminar, titled "Understanding Terrorism in Africa: Building Bridges and Overcoming Gaps," was held on 19-20 May 2007 at the University of Cairo. It aimed to address discrepancies in the definitions, roots, and strategies for combating terrorism, while analyzing the impacts of the "War on Terrorism" across different African regions. The event focused on creating an "African Voice" in global terrorism debates and strengthening the African Research Network on Terrorism and Counter Terrorism (ARNTACT). Future follow-up seminars were planned for Abuja, Nigeria, to focus on domestic terrorism and Nairobi, Kenya, to assess counter-terrorism strategies.

• The seminar sought to address the exclusion of the African continent from global terrorism debates, emphasizing the necessity of an "African Voice" to better understand the threat and impact of terrorism within the region.
• The event focused on bridging specific gaps regarding terrorism, including its definitions (such as the roles of religion and separatist or liberation movements), its domestic and international roots, and the legislative, judicial, security, and political strategies used to combat it.
• Participants analyzed the impacts of the "War on Terrorism" across various sectors and regions, specifically examining governance, human rights, and economics in both North Africa and Sub-Sahara Africa, as well as the effect on Western liberal democracies.
• The seminar identified domestic terrorism as a critical threat to human security in Africa, noting that experiences in Liberia, Sierra Leone, the Niger Delta, and Northern Uganda demonstrate that such terrorism causes devastating social, political, and economic consequences.

APA

Institute for Security Studies (2007). Seminar Report: Understanding Terrorism In Africa: Building Bridges and Overcoming Gaps. https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/CAIROTERROREP.PDF

Chicago

Institute for Security Studies. Seminar Report: Understanding Terrorism In Africa: Building Bridges and Overcoming Gaps. 2007. https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/CAIROTERROREP.PDF.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Institute for Security Studies |title=Seminar Report: Understanding Terrorism In Africa: Building Bridges and Overcoming Gaps |date=2007 |url=https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/CAIROTERROREP.PDF |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{instituteforsecuritystudies2007seminar, author = {{Institute for Security Studies}}, title = {{Seminar Report: Understanding Terrorism In Africa: Building Bridges and Overcoming Gaps}}, institution = {Institute for Security Studies}, year = {2007}, url = {https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/CAIROTERROREP.PDF}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }