United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime

The UNODC Regional Office in East Africa (ROEA)

UNODC and EAPCCO Strengthening Investigation and Intelligence Capacity to Counter Links between Terrorism and Transnational Organized Crime in Eastern Africa

Mwanza (Tanzania), 13 September – The Eastern Africa Police Chiefs Cooperation Organization (EAPCCO) Regional Counter-Terrorism Centre of Excellence (CTCoE) and UNODC recently presented a 5-day training workshop on “Strengthening Investigations and Intelligence Capacities of Terrorism Cases with Links to Transnational Organized Crime” at the Marine Police College in Mwanza, Tanzania.

The overall aim of the workshop was to foster stronger national inter-agency collaboration between criminal intelligence officers, investigators and prosecutors, including cultivating practices of early involvement of prosecutors in the investigative phase of terrorism and related cases.

Criminal justice practitioners from Burundi, Comoros, DRC, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda as well as expert facilitators from the Institute for Security Studies (ISS), East Africa Community (EAC), Global Centre for Policy & Strategy (GLOCEPS) EAPCCO CTCoE, INTERPOL and UNODC discussed the prevalence and solutions to links between terrorism and transnational organized crime and the serious threats it posed to peace, security and development in Eastern Africa.

Mr. Ramadhan Ng’anzi, Senior Assistant Commissioner of Police, representing the Inspector General of Police of the Tanzania Police Force, welcomed the participants to Mwanza and the Marine Police College. In his opening remarks, Mr. Ng’anzi, highlighted the crucial need to build capacity of law enforcement officers and prosecutors dealing with the cross-cutting field of terrorism and organized crime. 

The workshop focused on special investigation techniques, proactive intelligence taking, collection and analysis, including the use of open-source intelligence and digital evidence. Discussions also focused extensively on means to strengthen regional cooperation, including through information exchange, joint operations and investigations, and sharing of regional knowledge and best practices in responding to the challenges posed by the links between terrorism and transnational organized crime.

UNODC continues to emphasize the importance of enhanced regional cooperation of Member States to counter the links between TOC and terrorism cases, as required by UN Security Council Resolution 2482 (2019) on the Links between Terrorism and Transnational Organized Crime.

UNODC, with technical expertise and knowledge to address links between TOC and terrorism cases, will continue to support and is ready to upscale support to Member States including through national and regional training workshops as well as bilateral technical assistance implemented through the UNODC Transnational Organized Crime, Illicit Trafficking and Terrorism Programmes for Eastern Africa.

The training workshop was presented at Marine Police College at the invitation of the Inspector General of Police of the Tanzania Police Force. Since the Marine Police College was identified as one of the EAPCCO regional Centres of Excellence, it provides a good opportunity to promote the use of the College to other EAPCCO member countries.

UNODC and EAPCCO also used the opportunity to hand over equipment, including IT, training and office equipment to the College to strengthen and support their facilities and capacity to deliver national and regional training at the facility.

Building on the previous project “Supporting and enhancing the EAPCCO Regional Counter-Terrorism Centre of Excellence for Eastern Africa”, the overall aim of this project is to support and strengthen the capacity of Eastern Africa Police Chiefs Cooperation Organization (EAPCCO) Member States, EAPCCO Secretariat, and EAPCCO Regional Counter-Terrorism Centre of Excellence (CTCoE) to effectively prevent and counter terrorism and links to transnational organized in Eastern Africa, including through enhanced international cooperation in criminal matters, with a rule of law and human rights-based approach.

The regional training workshop and the hand-over of office equipment are part of the UNODC regional project on Supporting EAPCCO and its Regional Counter-Terrorism Centre of Excellence to Prevent and Counter Terrorism in Eastern Africa, funded by the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany.

For more information on the UN Security Council Resolution 2482 (2019) regarding links between Transnational Organized Crime and Terrorism, click here.

See UNODC’s Strategic Vision for Africa 2030 here.

For more information, please contact: 

Mr. Johan Kruger – johan.kruger@un.org
Head of Transnational Organized Crime, Illicit Trafficking and Terrorism Programmes,
UNODC Regional Office for Eastern Africa