Dakar, 05 November 2024 - The Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of the United Nations Office for West Africa and the Sahel, Leonardo Santos Simão, participated in the High-level Conference on Strengthening International Counter-Terrorism Cooperation and Building Agile Border Security Mechanisms, held on 4-5 November in Kuwait.
Co-organized by the State of Kuwait, the Republic of Tajikistan, and the United Nations Office of Counterterrorism (UNOCT), the conference aimed at promoting regional and international cooperation on various border security and management issues outlined in the eighth review resolution of the United Nations Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy adopted by the General Assembly in July 2023.
Speaking at the ministerial session on leveraging multilateralism for enhanced counter-terrorism cooperation, Simão emphasized the Sahel's status as a terrorism hotspot, warning that insufficient support for Sahel countries could allow terrorists to establish safe havens to plan attacks on other regions.
Simão urged conference participants to urgently establish a regional cooperation mechanism to assist Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger in combating terrorism. He reiterated UNOWAS's commitment to collaborating with member states and stakeholders for the implementation of the Global Counterterrorism Strategy and its Action Plan.