Terrorist acts and violent extremism have plagued West African countries for the past decade. The Sahel countries have been severely affected by this phenomenon, which has caused loss of life and spread fear among local populations. Togo has recently faced these security threats in the northernmost part of the country and has taken urgent measures to curb the phenomenon. These measures include, among others, strengthening cooperation with and building the capacities of civil society organizations in community awareness and prevention strategies.<\/p>\n
To this end, the High Commission for Reconciliation and Strengthening of National Unity (HCRRUN), in keeping with its mandate to promote peaceful coexistence, initiated a capacity-building session for Local Peace Committees (LPCs) in the Savanes Region. Held on Tuesday, February 14, 2023, in Lom\u00e9, the session brought together some forty participants around the theme: \u201cTechniques for listening to communities affected by violent extremism and combating the phenomenon.\u201d<\/em> As a forum for dialogue and exchange, the session provided LPC members from the Savanes Region with a better understanding of the evolution of the persistent threat posed by violent extremism and its impact on people’s lives. Participants were provided with practical tools and key messages to promote peaceful community life, as well as guidance on appropriate behaviours to foster a cohesive social environment capable of protecting the country against such threats.<\/p>\n Listening Techniques for Conflict Prevention<\/strong><\/p>\n During the session, three presentations particularly engaged the participants. These presentations informed and raised the awareness of LPC members about the evolution of the phenomenon over time and across different geographical areas, enabling them to better assess its consequences and contribute to addressing the issue in the Togolese context. Furthermore, given that extremist groups seek to promote a culture of violence based on sectarianism and identity-based divisions, the presentations focused on listening techniques for preventing conflicts and, above all, on helping affected communities overcome trauma.<\/p>\n In her opening remarks, the President of the HCRRUN, Ms. Awa Nana-Daboya, commended the commitment of the Head of State and the Government to taking all necessary measures to address this phenomenon. She explained that, by making LPCs the target group of this capacity-building session, her institution seeks to give these structures renewed momentum and enable them to align their actions with the efforts undertaken by the Togolese State to combat violent extremism.<\/p>\n For his part, Gen. Damehame Yark, Minister of Security and Civil Protection, welcomed the proactive measures and monitoring efforts undertaken by the State, notably economic and social development initiatives in the region and the reform of the Defence and Security Forces (FDS) launched in 2014. These efforts were further strengthened by the establishment of Operation Koundjoar\u00e9 in 2018 and the creation, in 2019, of the Interministerial Committee for the Prevention and Fight against Violent Extremism (CIPLEV). He noted that, unexpectedly, armed groups operating outside the law have launched attacks in the Savanes Region, resulting in loss of life. He also expressed his gratitude to the HCRRUN for this initiative.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Terrorist acts and violent extremism have plagued West African countries for the past decade. The Sahel countries have been severely affected by this phenomenon, which has caused loss of life and spread fear among local populations. Togo has recently faced these security threats in the northernmost part of the country and has taken urgent measures […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":9905,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[348,347,346,349],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9903","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archives","category-featured","category-news","category-news-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hcrrun-tg.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9903","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hcrrun-tg.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hcrrun-tg.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hcrrun-tg.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hcrrun-tg.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9903"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/hcrrun-tg.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9903\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10697,"href":"https:\/\/hcrrun-tg.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9903\/revisions\/10697"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hcrrun-tg.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9905"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hcrrun-tg.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9903"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hcrrun-tg.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9903"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hcrrun-tg.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9903"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}