The Inspector General of Police (IGP), CG Felix Namuhoranye, on Monday, January 27, officially opened the 49th EAPCCO Permanent Coordinating Committee (PCC) meeting in Kigali, and called for strengthened collective efforts and cooperation against the ever-evolving threats that challenge the security and stability of the region.
The PCC is made up of heads of criminal investigation and Interpol central bureaus from the Eastern Africa Police Chiefs Cooperation Organization (EAPCCO) member countries.
EAPCCO is a regional law enforcement body composed of 14 countries, namely; Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Burundi, Comoros, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Djibouti, Sudan, South Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo, Seychelles, and Somalia.
The PCC, which is largely responsible for advising the EAPCCO Council of Police Chiefs (CPC), comes ahead of 26th EAPCCO Annual General Meeting to be held on Wednesday January 29, at Kigali Convention Centre.
He called for actionable commitment and aligning joint actions to maximize the region’s operational impact in dealing with traditional and emerging transnational organized crime, such as cybercrime and terrorism activities.
The EAPCCO focuses mainly on six security issues, namely; financial crimes, terrorism, human trafficking, drug trafficking, cybercrime and intellectual property crimes.
The Police Chief said that collective understanding of the security landscape while sharing and supporting collection and dissemination of real-time intelligence, should be at the centre of deliberations.
“Efforts should be put in consolidation of our national databases to help us track and interrupt movement of criminals across our borders. This will require our strong commitment to enhance sustained communication and collaboration amongst ourselves to enable us move faster than the criminals.”
He also emphasized on building capacities and skills of investigators in the realm of policing to harmonize operational and investigation approaches.
Africa Apollo Sendahangarwa, the Chief Executive Officer of EAPCCO and Head of Interpol Regional Bureau, said that the existence, movement and financing of terror organizations in the region calls for stronger cooperation to counter terrorism.
“The incessant trafficking of human beings and smuggling of migrants from our region to different parts of the world done by organized criminals that also commit other crimes like counterfeit of travel documents, money laundering and in some cases organ harvesting and illegal selling of human organs of trafficked persons, is overwhelming,” Africa said.
He further observed that the use of modern and evolving technologies to engage in intellectual property crimes including counterfeiting and various kinds of frauds indicate the cooperate even more to work together against these emerging crimes or new modus operandi of traditional crimes.
Aimable Mutagatifu, who represented the head of PCC, noted that the committee has built unity, resilience and unwavering support against emergency transnational organized crimes.
The 49th PCC meeting will include technical subcommittee meeting and training sessions, including the 11th Counter Terrorism meeting, 57th Legal meeting, 29th Gender meeting, 44th Training meeting and the 6th Cybercrime meeting.
Each session provides a unique opportunity to share experiences, review progress, and discuss new ways to address challenges facing the region.
The meeting will include technical subcommittee meetings and training. These are the 11th Counter Terrorism meeting, 57th Legal meeting, 29th Gender meeting, 44th Training meeting and the 6th Cybercrime meeting.
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