UN terror plan pulls reluctant region into the fray http://www.businessday.co.za/articles/national.aspx?ID=BD4A573883 Wilson Johwa
Political Correspondent SIX years on, the US-led "war on terror" seethes, its scale and ferocity scarcely felt in life and policy in SA and its neighbours. This could change, however. A draft counterterrorism strategy of the United Nations (UN) requires the commitment of southern African states to fight international terrorism. Already, security experts have warned that international terrorism is a lurking, imminent danger in the region. The influx of more than 300000 people for the 2010 Soccer World Cup in SA makes the threat plausible. SA's liberal foreign policy towards the Middle East and the government's sometimes anti-US position will not shield it from international terrorism, analysts say. Creating the potential for terrorism in southern Africa are a multi-plicity of factors, including porous borders, small-arms trafficking, corruption, lack of a strong legal counter-terrorism framework and under-resourced law enforcement agencies. Low capacity in the home affairs department was also cited by the US state department in its latest report on terrorism as easing potential terrorists' access to South African passports and identity documents. Adopted by the UN General Assembly last year, the UN global counterterrorism strategy is intended to combine preventive and suppressive measures with development strategies and respect for human rights. "All countries in the region have opened up to the strategy," says Anneli Botha, a senior researcher at the Institute for Security Studies (ISS). The plan, to be presented to the general assembly in September next year, is a revised version of the security council's post-September 2001 focus on security measures. While this might have served its purpose, it did not do much for international consensus. Because of the security council's small size, some countries have questioned its authority in imposing obligations binding on all states. "Over time the resentment has grown, largely in the developing world," says Eric Rosand of the US-based Centre on Global Counter- Terrorism Co-operation, which is involved in implementing the UN plan. Like other compromises resulting from multilateral diplomacy, the document has been criticised [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: [email protected] Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
