WORLD ROUNDUPU.K. Bans Chinese Surveillance Cameras | Russia Is Using Energy as a Weapon | Italy’s Government Is Stuffed with the Far Right, and more

Published 25 November 2022

··Violent Extremism - Africa Records 346 Terrorist Attacks in Q1, 2022
West Africa now accounts for half of all terrorism cases in Africa

··UK Clamps Down on Chinese Surveillance Cameras
Chinese-made surveillance cameras may be spying for China

··W. Africa Coastal States Eye More Cooperation Over Sahel Jihadism
Accra Initiative calls for security and intelligence cooperation

··Home Office Accuses UK Muslim Student Group of Acting ‘Dangerously and Irresponsibly’
Group hosted an anti-counter-extremism university tour

··Turkey and U.S. Relations Are Under the Shadow of Terrorist Attacks Allegedly Linked to Kurdish Groups in Syria
U.S.-Turkish tensions deepen over Kurdish issue

··Strategy Urgently Needed to Address Cybersecurity Risks to Offshore Oil and Gas Infrastructure
Offshore oil and gas infrastructure faces significant and increasing cybersecurity risks

··Russia Is Using Energy as a Weapon
How deadly will it be?

··Italy’s Government Is Stuffed with the Far Right
Meloni’s supposed moderates are anything but

Violent Extremism - Africa Records 346 Terrorist Attacks in Q1, 2022  (All Africa)
The Minister of National Security, Albert Kan-Dapaah, has revealed that 346 terrorist attacks were recorded in Africa in the first quarter of 2022, with 49 per cent of them occurring in West Africa alone. Also, he indicated that between July and September this year, 246 terrorist attacks resulting in 745 fatalities and 239 injuries were recorded in West Africa. The minister was speaking at the opening of the two-day international conference on the Accra Initiative (AI), held in Accra yesterday on the theme ‘Accra Initiative: Towards a credible, preventive and coordinated response to challenges facing the Coastal and Sahelian States’. The AI aims at preventing spill-over of terrorism from the Sahel and to address transnational organized crime and violent extremism in member countries’ border areas. Participants at the technical conference included representatives of relevant international governmental agencies, civil society organizations (CSOs), academia, think tanks, practitioners in the security sector and other multinational initiatives. The conference, supported by the European Union (EU), would afford them the opportunity to reflect on measures and strategies deployed towards addressing the threat of terrorism and violent extremism and to come up with innovative approaches toward enhancing regional security.

UK Clamps Down on Chinese Surveillance Cameras (May James, Reuters)
The British government on Thursday told its departments to stop installing Chinese-linked surveillance cameras at sensitive buildings, citing security risks.
The decision comes after a review of “current and future possible security risks associated with the installation of visual surveillance systems on the government estate,” cabinet office minister Oliver Dowden said in a written statement to parliament.

W. Africa Coastal States Eye More Cooperation Over Sahel Jihadism  (AFP / Barron’s)
West African coastal states on Thursday held talks on boosting cooperation against jihadist violence spilling over from the Sahel after more countries announced they would pull their peacekeepers out of Mali. Gulf of Guinea neighbours Benin, Ghana, Ivory Coast and Togo are confronting increased risks from Islamic State-allied and Al Qaeda militants waging war over their northern borders in the Sahel. As part of the so-called Accra Initiative, representatives of coastal states, the European Union and others met in the Ghanaian capital for talks on security and intelligence cooperation. (Cont.)