The creation of the counterterrorism center in Cairo for the Community of Sahel-Saharan States (CEN-SAD) was proposed by the Arab Republic of Egypt at the 2013 summit in N'Djamena. This idea was gradually adopted by the Sahel-Saharan Community because Egypt regularly handed it over.
The idea has already crystallized after the meeting of defense ministers of the Caucus in Sharm El-Sheikh in 2015. The ministers adopted the idea and encouraged Egypt to move forward to actually build this center.
The values underpinning the establishment of the center are solidarity and the collective imperative to fight terrorism.
The establishment of the Center for Combating Terrorism reflects the will of the heads of state and government of the member countries to unite to combat terrorism and restore appropriate conditions for sustainable development and economic integration in the CEN-SAD.
The center will form a framework for conducting strategic analyzes and operational actions and all its activities will contribute to solving the problems for which it was established. It will provide the Member States with the additional training necessary to enhance the capabilities of their defense and security forces in order to effectively combat, at the national and regional levels, against terrorist groups of whatever nature.
This will mean creating significant synergies between the many governmental or non-governmental organizations and agencies that provide resources, general and specialized knowledge and information. Together, these elements will finally enable the detection, prevention and mitigation of terrorist activities and the improvement of the capabilities of the defense and security forces in performing their mission of protecting lives and preventing criminal activities.
The success of the Center will depend on several factors; the most important ones are the commitment of the Member States, good management of the various organizational structures, personnel, facilities, infrastructure, and security.
The CEN-SAD center should be a tool for restoring peace and security, capable of detecting, dismantling, and deterring terrorist activities.
The meeting of the Ministers of Interior of the CEN-SAD countries was held from January 16 to 19, 2017 in Niamey (Niger) at the invitation of the Minister of the Interior, Public Security, Decentralization, Customary, and Religious Affairs of the Republic of Niger, at that time, Mr. Mohamed Bazoum.
The meeting examined the issue of irregular migration and security issues in the CEN-SAD and ways to deal with them.
The Fifth Meeting of Defense Ministers of the CEN-SAD Caucus was held from March 22 to 25, 2016, in Sharm El Sheikh (Egypt) at the invitation of the Minister of Defense and Military Production of Egypt.
President Abdel Fattah El Sisi said that he had made the trip to Sharm El-Sheikh and received the defense ministers to urge them to establish effective cooperation.
On that occasion, the Ministers approved Egypt's proposal to establish the CEN-SAD Center for Combating Terrorism. For this purpose, a draft statute for the center, a draft protocol for the focused establishment, and a draft headquarters agreement that defines how this center will operate have been drawn up.
A meeting of military experts and permanent representatives of member states to the Community of Sahel-Saharan States (CSS) was held in Cairo from February 13 to 14, 2017, to enrich and amend the aforementioned draft texts before submitting them to the next Presidency Council for approval.
Egypt reiterated that it fulfilled all its commitments related to the implementation of the Counter-Terrorism Center during consultation meetings with the assembly.
The seventh meeting of Defense Ministers of the Member States of the Sahel-Saharan States was held in Abuja (Nigeria) from June 20 to 22, 2018.
On this occasion, Egypt informed the meeting of the completion of the construction of the building designated to house the Counter-Terrorism Center. Egypt also renewed the "1000 Scholarships for Defense and Security" program for the year 2018-2019. It was decided to hold a capacity-building planning meeting for the national armies in 2019.
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