BY EYUEL KIFLU
The East African region has been susceptible to old and emerging menaces. Given its strategic location, the volatile region has been a hotbed for different unlawful activities. Beset by internal predicaments, the regional countries also face a multitude of transitional threats that put the onus on governments to find a collective solution through cooperation.
Besides existing challenges, the region also is grappling with new threats that came into being because of technological advancement and the clandestine activities of criminals. In a rapidly changing world, addressing complex and illicit crimes behooves dynamic solutions.
Over the years, countries in the region formed security alliances to combat cross-border crimes. It was for this and other common goals that the Eastern African Police Chiefs Cooperation Organization (EAPCCO) was formed. The organization works towards a shared goal of reducing crime and protecting indigenous people from criminal activity. Lately, representatives of EAPCCO met in Addis Ababa to discuss regional issues including cybercrimes.
Ethiopia and Burundi have shared their experience in combating cybercrimes in the discussion forum which was held under the theme “Promoting Best Policing Practice in the Fight against Terrorism and Trans-national Organized Crime in the EAPCCO Region and Beyond.’’
Cybercrime is now on the rise due to the expansion of technology throughout the world. The majority of crimes committed in our countries involve the use of a cyber-attack. That is why; EAPCCO paid attention to this and, for the first time, established a cybercrime subcommittee, Deputy Commissioner of Forensic Investigation Director at Ethiopian Federal Police Commission, Ketema Debalke, told The Ethiopian Herald in an exclusive interview.
EAPCCO plans to establish a cyber-crime subcommittee while also exploring ways to deal with emerging crime threats. EAPCCO also plans to coordinate with the African Union Mechanism for Police Cooperation (AFRIPOL) to combat crime. “The countries presented their practices in order for other members to draw lessons.
The issues of technology and professional training in curbing the threats were among others discussed by participants.” Keteme also stated that Ethiopia also gets experience from others on how to improve its cybercrime capacity and budget now that the country is building the capacity to investigate mobile and computer-based crimes.
However, as a result of the expensiveness of materials, the country is yet to perform well. To redress the constraint and have access to capital-intensive equipment, the government is dealing with donor countries and organizations, he added. Also, work is being done on the part of Ethiopia to produce more experts working on the cyber investigation.
As a demonstration of this, it is being done by sending them to South Korea for training. In the near future, the department that works on cyber security will be more organized and the system will be applied in the justice system. Ethiopia and the regional countries will also be offered training opportunities in collaboration with Interpol, he elucidated.
Ethiopia is providing educational opportunities to the member countries that sent those young police officers to the Ethiopian Police University. Somalia police officers numbering 38 took their training at the Ethiopian Police University. And the Federal Police Commission of Ethiopia is more connected with the member countries, he added. Gedion Kimilu, Head of the Interpol East African Regional Office and CEO of EAPCCO Secretariat for his part said that EAPCCO has been growing since its inception in 1998, and it will continue to grow.
“Now it is working very closely with the African Union Mechanism for Police Cooperation (AFRIPOL). It’s also coming up with new structures to deal with new crime areas for the first time. Such as a cybercrime subcommittee, this is looking specifically at crime dealing with cyber and other unique crimes in the region like cattle rustling.”
The organization is also providing training on specific crime areas. After the officers have been trained in those crime-specific areas, the organization organized joint operations where all the countries come together to fight cross-border crimes. “We carry out annual operations like Operation SALAMA, where we bring all 14 countries in the region and the 26 countries in the South African region together to carry out the operation targeting transnational organized crimes, which are basically cross-border crimes”, he added.
EAPCCO has, over time, improved security in the East African region. It has been seen that for the last three years, terrorism has been reduced. The region has not had a major terrorist attack for the last almost five years. Also, reductions in human trafficking and environmental crimes, that is, poaching and looting, have been seen.
In addition, the alliance has reduced maritime piracy in the Indian Ocean, the Somali coast, and the Gulf of Aden because of the efforts of EAPCCO and especially the police chiefs. Basically, the region is becoming more stable because of the action taken by the police chiefs of the region, Gedion explained.
EAPCCO is a regional police body whose membership consists of the chiefs of police of 14 countries. It was established in 1998 with the aim of harmonizing, strengthening police cooperation and joint strategies, sharing crime-related information, and harmonizing laws in order to enhance the capacity of law enforcement agencies to combat transnational organized crime.
The organization is divided into subcommittees such as training, gender, legal, counter-terrorism, and the newly formed cyber committee. Ethiopia is the current chair of the organization. In the event, Alaine Ilunga Mwenze, the representative of the director of a criminal investigation of the Congolese national police and former chairmanship of the EAPCCO standing committee, has handed over the chairmanship of the standing committee to the head of the Ethiopian federal police criminal investigation department, Deputy Commissioner General Zelalem Mengistea.
THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD TUESDAY 18 APRIL 2023
