India concerned over peace and security in African region

India has voiced concern over the international community's "less than satisfactory" response to terrorist threats posed by outfits such as Boko Haram and Al Shabaab in the African region, cautioning that the price of this indifference is "immeasurable".
"The ever expanding terror networks have endangered the peace and security of African region in unprecedented ways. From Boko Haram to Al Shabaab, these terrorist networks have proved time and again ever more connected to terrorist networks from all around the world," India's Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Syed Akbaruddin said here.
Addressing a Security Council debate on peace and security in Africa yesterday, Akbaruddin said these terror networks pose a threat to the broader international community in many ways.

"Our response to these terrorist threats remains less than satisfactory. The price of this indifference is immeasurable. It is time for a strong, effective and coherent response that reflects the international community's collective commitment to defeat the scourge of terrorism," he said.
He noted that while in the African Union, the UN has a willing partner, the question that the Council needs to answer is whether it is ready to do what is required to make a difference where it matters most.
On peacekeeping in the region, Akbaruddin said that despite large peacekeeping deployments in Africa, their record of success has been a mixed one, reflecting the complexities of geo-politics, political will and the capacities and resources supporting the peacekeeping efforts.

"There is a need to analyse various missions and draw important lessons from them," he said.

India has participated in most peacekeeping operations on the African continent, he said voicing the country's commitment towards any future peacekeeping operations within its limited capabilities and capacities.
He noted that the 125 all women police contingent from India in Liberia was the first such deployment in a UN peacekeeping mission.
"The presence of a female police unit has inspired several women to come forward to join the police force and participate in maintaining law and order. We need to make such role models as essential ingredients of every UN peace keeping operation with police deployments," Akbaruddin said.

Further, he stressed that the adoption of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Agenda 2063 by the African Union is an acceptance of fact that the key factors to achieve sustaining peace are cross-cutting and inter-linked in nature. He however added that there is no agreement on increasing the funding for the Peace Building Commission to even a one per cent level of that for peacekeeping operations annually.
As a member of the Peace Building Commission since its inception, India has so far contributed USD 5.5 million to the Peacebuilding Fund.
At the Third India-Africa Forum Summit, India within the limits of its capacities and capabilities extended concessional credit worth USD 10 billion and doubled scholarships for African students to 50,000 over a 5-year period.

"India's partnership with Africa is based on a model of cooperation which is responsive to the needs of African countries. It is demand-driven, free of conditions and provided in a non-prescriptive manner," he said.