Kenya Initiates Capacity-Building Program Against Terrorism Financing

NAIROBI, Xinhua: Kenya’s Defence Ministry on Tuesday launched a training program for law enforcement agencies in detecting, reporting or foiling terrorism financing and money laundering.

Supported by the Islamic Military Counter Terrorism Coalition (IMCTC), a 42-member state counter-terrorist military alliance based in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, the capacity-building initiative seeks to disrupt funding to entities promoting violent extremism and illicit financial flows.

Soipan Tuya, cabinet secretary for the Ministry of Defence, said that terrorism remains an existential threat to regional peace security, and development. “Terrorist financing fuels recruitment, planning, logistics and operations. Without addressing the financial lifelines that sustain these networks, our broader counter-terrorism efforts risk being undermined,” Tuya said.

A partnership with IMCTC aligns with the national strategies to eradicate terrorism financing and money laundering, she said.

For the next five days, dozens of state officers will participate in the training program to build skills, networks and institutional resilience required to detect, disrupt and dismantle terrorism and money laundering activities.

IMCTC Secretary General Mohammed bin Saeed Al-Moghedi said that Kenya is strategically placed to galvanize regional efforts to combat terrorism by leveraging policy, legislative, and funding tools.

The training program in Kenya will target financial institutions, investigative and judicial officers to help them identify illicit financial transactions by groups espousing violent extremism, he said.

International cooperation is crucial to freeze sources of funding to terrorist organizations wreaking havoc in the Sahel and Horn of Africa region, he added.