Cape Town – The INTERPOL African Regional Conference closed on 29 August with new recommendations to strengthen international police cooperation and enhance Africa’s ability to tackle organized crime and terrorism.
The three-day meeting, held from 27 to 29 August, brought together police leaders from across the continent to discuss pressing security threats, including cybercrime, terrorism, financial crime, and environmental offences.
Delegates agreed on several key measures. These include using INTERPOL’s global expertise to fight cybercrime such as ransomware and online scams, increasing intelligence sharing to identify high-value criminal targets, and tightening border controls with regional and international partners to curb smuggling and terrorism-linked movements.
The conference also promoted wider use of NEXUS, INTERPOL’s secure case messaging platform, to support real-time coordination across borders. Delegates further committed to engaging with INTERPOL’s training and capacity-building services to boost professional standards in law enforcement.
A major outcome of the conference was the establishment of a new INTERPOL African Committee, which will set regional priorities and advise on crime prevention strategies.
Conference Chair and INTERPOL Vice President for Africa, Mohammed Dkhissi, who is also Director of the Moroccan Judicial Police, urged member states to ensure frontline officers have full access to INTERPOL’s policing tools. He said the continent’s shared goal of a safer Africa remains essential for global security.
Africa, with the largest number of INTERPOL member states, already plays a central role in international law enforcement. The continent hosts four of INTERPOL’s six regional bureaus in Abidjan, Harare, Nairobi and Yaoundé.
Recent statistics show that in 2024, police records shared by African countries rose by seven per cent compared to the previous year, while positive query results on African data grew by nearly 60 per cent, reflecting stronger participation in global investigations.
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