Morocco Stresses Links Between Terrorist Groups, Weapons of Mass Destruction

Rabat – Taking part in the Mediterranean Initiative in Paris on Tuesday, Morocco highlighted links between separatist and terrorist groups and states proliferating weapons of mass destruction in the Mediterranean region.

The meeting was organized by the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI), a multinational response unit that seeks to combat the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. Morocco is one of the 107 states that endorse the initiative, and is a founding member.

Representing the North African kingdom at the Paris meeting, Redouane Houssaini, Director of the United Nations and International Organizations at Morocco’s Foreign Ministry, stressed the need for security analysis of Mediterranean states to evolve to include non-state actors.

The past few years have seen a relative increase in the number and relevance of non-state groups championing separatist and terrorist ideologies in the Sahel-Sahara region, Houssaini said.

Tackling the challenges these groups pose to regional and global security has become an indispensable part of the fight against the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction — both in the region and across the world at large, he argued.

“The documented links between separatist terrorist groups and proliferating states in the Sahel-Sahara region are a call to action for PSI states to intensify their efforts to prevent proliferation of weapons of mass destruction by these actors,” the Moroccan diplomat explained.

He also highlighted Morocco’s efforts to curb the spread of weapons of mass destruction, saying that the country has built a pool of experts trained in intercepting such weapons and the materials that can be used to make them.

Houssaini added that Morocco has been improving its cooperation with other states on a national and international level in the domain, including meetings within the PSI’s framework.

Last year, the US labeled Morocco’s Royal Armed Forces a regional leader in managing nuclear, chemical, biological, and radiological threats. That was the result of a six-year joint program between Moroccan and US military forces to train for the management of such threats.

Houssaini underlined the importance of cooperation in combating the threat of weapons of mass destruction, stressing that it has to be strengthened particularly at the regional Maghreb level.