Abu Dhabi, September 30, 2026 – The Europe Today: Morocco has called for stronger African-led cooperation to address the growing links between terrorism, separatist movements and transnational organized crime in the Sahel and Sahara, emphasizing the need to translate political commitments into concrete action.
The call was made by Morocco’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations Office and International Organizations in Vienna, Ambassador Azzeddine Farhane, during a high-level meeting held on the sidelines of the 15th United Nations Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice in Abu Dhabi.
The meeting, held under the theme “Towards the Activation of the CONNECT Initiative: Strengthening Operational Coordination Under African Command to Combat the Links Between Crime and Terrorism,” brought together African and international partners to discuss ways to strengthen operational cooperation against cross-border security threats.
Farhane stressed the importance of African ownership, solidarity and shared responsibility in addressing security challenges affecting the continent. He said Morocco regards South-South cooperation as a cornerstone of its foreign policy and emphasized the need for African countries to develop their own solutions to regional security challenges.
“Security cannot be imported, it must be nationally owned and African-led,” Farhane said in a post following the meeting.
He identified three priorities for the CONNECT initiative: ownership, partnership and cooperation. He called for moving from national commitments toward collective action, from assistance toward co-construction, and from coordination toward greater operational trust.
Farhane also said the initiative should connect existing mechanisms, institutions and security practitioners rather than establish additional structures without tangible results. He called for adapting the initiative to national and African priorities through partnerships based on shared responsibility and the needs identified by African countries themselves.
The Moroccan ambassador further emphasized that sustainable security requires a comprehensive approach extending beyond traditional security measures. Such an approach, he said, should place people at the center of policies while strengthening prevention, institutional capacity-building and international cooperation.
He also called for enhanced information-sharing, exchanges of expertise and closer coordination among national, regional and international institutions to improve their ability to anticipate, prevent and respond to cross-border threats.
Farhane said the success of the West Africa and Sahel component of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) CONNECT initiative would depend on translating political commitment into operational confidence, stronger cooperation and concrete results on the ground.
The discussions form part of broader international efforts at the UN Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Congress to strengthen cooperation against transnational organized crime, terrorism and other emerging security threats.
