African delegations trained on counterterrorism

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) recently provided counterterrorism training at the International Law Enforcement Academy (ILEA) in Roswell, N.M. to law enforcement delegations from six African nations.

The participants were judges, prosecutors, and police officers from Angola, Botswana, Kenya, Nigeria, Mozambique, and Uganda. Many have experience fighting violent extremism in their home countries.

Delegates also offered insights into how terrorism can spread, including a lack of programs and education for youth.

Insights into how to fight terrorism included tracing the journey individuals take from average citizens to violent extremists and creating counternarratives and counter-radicalization messages on social media.

Fighting terrorism requires a global response, FBI Special Agent Rick Hernandez, who provides counterterrorism training to international partners, said.

“We cannot deal with terrorism alone,” Gilbert Masengeli, a commissioner with Kenya’s National Police Service, said. “We need to partner. We need to communicate. At ILEA, we’ve come to learn how we can deal with countering violent extremism. We share our problems and see the best way of how we counter it. We’ll be looking at all of these facts when we go home.”

The ILEA program provides law enforcement officials with one-on-one contacts they can use in addition to relying on Interpol and diplomatic channels when tracking a suspect who has escaped across national borders.