Credit: interpol.int / President of Rwanda Paul Kagame met with INTERPOL Secretary General Jürgen Stock following the Organization’s African Regional Conference in Kigali,  Rwanada  Feb. 7, 2019.

By Gary Raynaldo  DIPLOMATIC  TIMES

A new Eastern African Police Chiefs Cooperation Organization Cyber Crime Centre for Excellence will open in Rwanda later this year, the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL) announced.  President of Rwanda Paul Kagame met with INTERPOL Secretary General Jürgen Stock following the Organization’s African Regional Conference in Kigali earlier this month.  Terrorism and organized crime were main issues addressed at the  Conference. The meeting comes just weeks after the terrorist attack in Nairobi which claimed 21 lives, following which an INTERPOL Incident Response Team (IRT) was deployed to provide on-site support to Kenyan authorities.

INTERPOL Deploys Team To Assist Probe Of Deadly Kenya Terror Attack

 Source: skynews.com / Kenya soldiers pictured at the scene of an attack on a Nairobi hotelTuesday Jan. 15, 2019.

Criminal intelligence analysis, digital forensics, weapons and explosives experts within the IRT have provided assistance to Kenyan Police enabling them to exploit data and develop investigative leads, according to INTERPOL.

 Rwandan Prime Minister Ngirente told delegates at the Conference that all continents are facing growing threats of organized crime and terrorism.

“These threats undermine the development of Africa but also constitute a violation of human rights. To stop and prevent these threats, there is an urgent need for strong cooperation. No single country can alone win this struggle. We need much stronger regional and international cooperation. I therefore urge all participants in this regional conference to use it as an opportunity to set up new strategies and enforce existing ones on how INTERPOL can better support our respective countries in preventing and fighting crimes.”

Credit: Interpol.int / Prime Minister Ngirente of Rwanda and INTERPOL Secretary General Stock discussed regional security threats at  INTERPOL African Regional Conference in Kigali Feb. 5-7, 2019.

INTERPOL Secretary General Jürgen Stock also underlined the conference’s role in strengthening regional and international police cooperation to better serve Africa’s security needs.

“There is no ‘one size fits all’ when it comes to policing, but there is the common factor of information exchange. Africa, like every region in the world is facing complex terrorism and organized crime threats, so making sure that the police on the ground have access to data when and where they need it, is critical. The momentum of terrorist-related data sharing across Africa via INTERPOL is unprecedented and we will continue to build on the successes of recent operations targeting human and drug trafficking.” 

Credit: Interpol.int / Inspector General of the Rwanda National Police Dan Munyuza addressing delegates.

Credit: Interpol.int /   Law enforcement officials confer at INTERPOL African Regional conference.

Credit: Interpol.int /

Some 158 Chiefs of Police and other senior law enforcement officials from 42 countries and seven regional and international organizations attended the three-day (5 – 7 February) conference in Kigali hosted by the Rwanda National Police.

 Credit: Interpol.int / Rwanda President Kagame and INTERPOL Secretary Generral Jürgen Stock confer on crucial  issue of cooperation and information sharing between law enforcement at the regional and global levels to combat terror and organized crime.

Johnston Busingye, Rwanda’s Minister of Justice and Attorney General officially closed the INTERPOL African Regional Conference.