Africa Will Never Be Cowed By Terrorists - Which Is Why We Stand With Our Burkinabe Kinsfolk

The abominable and unforgivable actions of the cowards who attacked the Splendid Hotel in the Burkinabe capital of Ouagadougou, and murdered as many as 28 innocent people, and injured a further 56, must be condemned in the strongest possible terms.

What have those unhinged minds achieved by murdering innocent people - many of whom were in Burkina Faso to help in its development: and to help alleviate widespread poverty in what is one of the poorest nations in the world?

Is true Jihad today, not actually meant to be a fight against poverty, ignorance and disease? None of the 28 who died deserved such an end - not when they were in Burkina Faso to help its people.

How can killing innocent people in the name of Allah - who is merciful and loving and in the enlightened 21st century information age obviously wants there to be peaceful co-existence between all the peoples of the world - ever be acceptable to Allah as Holy War?

Nothing on this earth can justify terrorism and the murder of innocent people. And to say that killing innocent people earns a passage to heaven for terrorists is arrant nonsense. It does no such thing.

Indeed, Islamist extremists who engage in acts of terrorism and kill innocent people as part of a Jihad, are today's apostates. They are headed straight for hell - and will roast in its hottest part till the very end of time. No question.

Good and decent people across Africa stand with our Burkinabe kinsfolk - and our hearts go out to the loved ones of all those who were so cruelly murdered by those bloodthirsty criminals from the so-called al-Murabitoun terrorist group. Ditto families of the injured victims who survived.

Clearly, the regional grouping, the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas), needs to do more in the area of counterterrorism cooperation, between security agencies in the sub-region.

Above all, in cooperation with our overseas allies in the fight against global terrorism, we must train Ecowas member-states'  armed forces'  special-forces units, and transform them into some of the world's most efficient and effective special forces.

In light of the recent attacks on hotels in the Malian capital of Bomako, and the Burkinabe capital of Ouagadougou, there is also an urgent need to review the free movement of people, under the Ecowas Treaty.

Those entrusted with the task of keeping the sub-region safe and secure, need to be more watchful, now, more than ever, going forward into the future.

That is why citizens of Ecowas member-states travelling to neighbouring countries within the sub-region, must henceforth, as an administrative measure, be required to report to the nearest police station in the areas they secure  accommodation, within 24 hours of their arrival - for their personal details to be taken: and added to a regional database which can be accessed by all the security agencies of the Ecowas  member-states.

Such a database will help the security agencies in the member-states to disrupt attempts by terrorist groups to build cross-border capabilities. It is urgent that it is made available as soon as practicable.

The peoples of Africa will never be cowed and enslaved by extremists. And just as we struggled against great odds to throw off the shackles of colonial bondage, we will also defeat those, who, although full of evil themselves, seek to enslave others by imposing their warped, sinful and anti-religious beliefs on them, through senseless acts of terrorism.

Terrorists operating on African soil, need to understand clearly that Africans are so strengthened mentally - by memories of past conquests by our ancestors that are buried in the deepest recesses of our minds - that we will never allow Mother Africa to be cowed by terrorists.

That is why we  mourn with our Burkinabe kinsfolk - and stand with them against those grotesque and cowardly monsters who seek to enslave Mother Africa through acts of terrorism. They will never succeed in their aim. Ever.