27 April 2006
Representatives from 91 Nations Address Counterterror Challenges
Ungoverned areas in Africa, Southeast Asia, cyberspace pose most concern
By Jacquelyn S. Porth
Washington File Staff Writer
Washington – Representatives from 91 countries concluded a multilateral planning conference that a U.S. military official says addressed some of the toughest issues of counterterrorism -- including exercising control over ungoverned areas, enforcing border security and sharing intelligence.
Air Force Lieutenant General Victor Renuart, the Joint Chiefs’ director for strategic plans and policy, told reporters at the Pentagon April 27 that 230 participants from around the world listened to presentations by Colombia, Malaysia, Egypt, Jordan and the United Kingdom about frustrations and lessons drawn from their own counterterror experiences.
The Multilateral Planners Conference, co-hosted by Jordan and the United States, was the fourth in a series on the global war against terrorism. Renuart said all of the participants were forthcoming in sharing insights during the two-day session held at the National Defense University in Washington, especially on the problem of controlling activities in ungoverned regions of the world including the vast frontier of cyberspace.
Of particular concern was finding a way to describe the struggle against terrorism in a nonantagonistic way, he said. Many participants urged their colleagues to use more sensitive descriptions of the counterterror campaign so as not to alienate the vast majority of moderate Muslims who do not condone violence, Renuart added.
He said Muslims attending the conference wanted to convey that Islam is a religion of compassion and understanding and that those who perpetrate terror in the name of Islam have subverted its basic tenets.
Senior military planners from individual nations and NATO attended, as well as civilian leaders with the U.S. departments of Defense and State, the U.S. Agency for International Development, the Inter-American Development Bank, and the United Nations. Renuart said the United States sought to emphasize that long-term success against terrorism requires a broad, well-trained and well-equipped coalition.
Participants also described problems faced trying to control illicit trade, smuggling, piracy and drug trafficking -- all of which can be used to serve terrorist networks. Renuart said the problem of stemming the flow of guns, drugs and people in the Trans-Sahel area was raised as a particular concern.
Conference delegates talked about how they might handle piracy problems in the Horn of Africa. The briefing official said they discussed questions such as:
• How do you build a coalition to address this problem?
• What are the legal implications of pirates trying to seek sanctuary in the territorial waters of a sovereign nation?
• What international accords should be signed to prevent attacks on commerce and trade?
• How do you build up the military capacity of nations who want to combat such threats, independently?
Conference attendees also expressed concerns about the prospect of a nuclear-equipped Iran, according to Renuart, but did not focus on Iran’s support for terrorist organizations.
He said the group was unable to build consensus around the definition of terrorism as had been hoped, but instead argued -- as an example -- about whether Maoist fighters in Nepal should be identified as rebels, insurgents or terrorists. Renuart said conference attendees will return home to consider the definitional problem further and provide feedback in future bilateral meetings with U.S. officials or through ongoing consultations with the Near East South Asia Center for Strategic Studies and the African Center for Strategic Studies.
Renuart also said there was general agreement that defeating an internal political struggle that evolves into a movement employing terrorist tactics – as in Malaysia -- can take as long as long as 20 years to 40 years.
Attendees also agreed on the importance of addressing root causes of terrorism by controlling the flow of refugees, ameliorating poverty and improving education.
The next multilateral conference will be held in about nine months.
The transcript of Renuart’s remarks is available on the Defense Department Web site.
For more information about U.S. policy, see Response to Terrorism.
(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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