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Nigerian President vows to join global forces in fighting terrorism

22 September 2011 00:21 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan said here Wednesday that his country was willing to collaborate with other nations and international organizations in combating terrorism, APA reports quoting Xinhua.

Jonathan voiced the promise when he participated in the general debate of the 66th session of the UN General Assembly, which opened here Wednesday.

"The increasing use of terror in various regions of the world as a form of political action poses a serious threat to international peace and security," said Jonathan. "We must win the war against terrorism because it infringes on the fundamental rights of all peoples to life and to live in safety from fear."

Jonathan said in the past few months, Nigeria faced an upsurge of terrorist attacks in parts of the country.

A terrorist attack took place on Aug.26 on the UN headquarters in the Nigerian capital of Abuja, leaving 23 people killed. Extremist group Boko Haram claimed to have carried out the attack.

"On behalf of the government and people of Nigeria, I’d like to convey my sincere condolences to the families of the victims and to the entire UN family for this barbaric and heinous attack against those who have dedicated their lives to helping others," said Jonathan.

The Nigerian president said that such attacks have not defeated the resolve of the Nigerian people to "develop appropriate national strategies and collaborate even more closely with the international community in the fight against this menace."

According to him, Nigeria has passed several domestic laws in order to counter terrorist actions and outline measures for preventing terrorism. The country will also work on combating terrorists in the multilateral realm, he said.

"To this end, Nigeria is working closely with the Untied Nations Counter Terrorism Implementation Task Force (CTITF), the Counter Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate (CTED), as well as relevant international bodies and friendly countries to sharpen our response mechanisms," he said. "In this connection, the CTITF is launching its first project in Abuja in November 2011, aimed at conflict prevention and countering the appeal of terrorism to youth through education and dialogue."

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon created the CTITF in 2005 to coordinate UN action to combat terrorism. The CTED helps to carry out the policy decisions of the UN Security Council’s Counter- Terrorism Committee.

Nigeria has also joined the Global Counter-Terrorism Forum, a new anti-terrorism body co-chaired by the U.S. and Turkey that brings together a wide variety of nations to discuss ways and share strategies to stop terrorism.