President Thabo Mbeki seized the occasion of his speech to the African region conference of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association on Friday to tick off a number of countries present who have not yet passed anti-terrorism laws.
“All of us are obliged to take action to implement the provisions of the African Convention on Terrorism,” he told the delegates, meeting in Parliament’s National Assembly chamber.
“I am not convinced that all our countries have passed the necessary legislation to make the Convention on Terrorism operational.”
He said that the Parliamentary Association could work with the Pan-African Parliament to prepare model legislation on terrorism to be made available to all African Parliaments, which would help to ensure that all African counties have compatible legislation.
“This would enormously strengthen the capacity of our continent to defeat the threat of terrorism that has already claimed many African lives,” the president said.
He added that the delegates would be aware of other similar interventions they could make. “These might include such important maters as confronting the mercenary scourge, human and drug trafficking, gender equality and children’s rights,” he said.
A Convention on the Prevention and Combating of Terrorism was passed by the Organisation of African Unity meeting in Algiers in 1999. It came into force when 15 African countries ratified it. Four years later, the African Union also passed the Convention.
President Mbeki signed the South African law giving effect to 12 anti-terror conventions and agreements including, the African Union one, into law on December 31 2004. — I-Net Bridge