Middle East and African states must help Europe fight terror

Europe's ties with governments in the Middle East and North Africa are commonly viewed through the prism of multimillion-euro arms deals or criticism of the latter's collective human rights records. If Europe wants to end the terrorist threat that has shocked the continent, however, a new relationship, one that pushes for deradicalisation in the Middle East, must be forged.

It is both worrying and undeniable that several perpetrators of the Paris, Brussels and recent UK terrorist attacks were young men of North African origin. A number had familial links to Morocco, a relatively secure and peaceful though autocratic state that has struggled with extremism. Until recently, Morocco isolated its incarcerated Islamist radicals from the general prison population, but quickly found that course of action served only to allow them to establish closer ties.

Tunisia, while the most successful post-revolution Arab country, faces similar troubles with radicalism having supplied more jihadists per head of population to Isis and al-Qaeda in Syria than any other country.

The Syrian government’s pre-war policy for defusing radicalism was to lock Islamists up and throw away the key. Many of the most extreme individuals were released on to the streets as part of a series of state “amnesties” that coincided with the onset of the 2011 revolution.

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Recovering jihadists

Other countries are attempting alternative methods. A Saudi rehabilitation prison 40km south of the capital Riyadh is equipped with a minibar and an indoor swimming pool, and inmates have access to Islamic scholars. Schooling for the recovering jihadists' children is paid for by the Saudi state.

The Moroccan and Tunisian authorities have succeeded in clamping down on extremist activity and silencing popular, ultra-conservative clerics at home because their very survival depends on doing so. But repression of the kind used by some Middle-East regimes cannot reform clerics and young men motivated by ideology prescribed by Isis or al-Qaeda, if indeed that is the intention. The consequence of such heavy-handedness is that clerics and radicalised individuals have been driven underground or abroad, not eradicated or reformed. Extremist preachers are achieving notoriety and attracting millions of disaffected young Muslim men and women in the Middle East and Europe through their online sermons and simplified, warped view of current world events.

The EU does have programmes in place to help counter extremism in the Middle East and North Africa. A report released this year from its directorate-general for external policies says that: “EU funding to counter-terrorism and preventing/countering violent extremism at the end of 2015 amounted to approximately €334 million and was predominantly focused on the Middle East and North Africa.”

But this funding failed to stop the Manchester attacker, Salman Abedi, last month. Born and raised in the UK, Abedi spent a month with family members in Libya, where Isis and al-Qaeda are now rooted into society, before returning to kill dozens of young people at a pop concert. Of major concern is that, while in Libya, Abedi had been under surveillance by Libyan intelligence, according to the BBC, but the failure of British and Libyan security agencies to properly co-operate meant he was able to return to Manchester and take 22 lives.

Careful calculation

Disempowered sons of families that travelled north from the Middle East and North Africa fleeing state repression will continue to grow up and live in Europe, and some will never fully feel at home in the suburbs of Paris, Munich or middle England.

That is why although Germany's welcoming of almost one million refugees and migrants in 2015 was a triumph for humanity, what happens next needs careful calculation. Already German companies ranging from BMW to small start-ups, whether required by law or magnanimously offering jobs to refugees, are finding it difficult to fill such positions. Some refugees have left their jobs before seeing out their full training terms, which are often rigorous. Unable to fit in, some may return to the country of their origin where the potential for coming into contact with extremists may well be greater than in Europe.

It is not enough to simply open the borders to those fleeing war and poverty. The best-laid plans and policies for integrating refugees are not enough either. Some will slip through the cracks and go in search of greater meaning in their lives, such as Salman Abedi, and the mastermind of the Paris attacks, Abdelhamid Abaaoud.

The governments of the Middle East and North Africa must engage the conservative Muslim clerics within their own borders – the individuals responsible for filling young people’s heads with hatred – and not jail or torture them. And it is up to Europe to step in to help them do so. If not, we can expect more atrocities and loss of innocent life across Europe for years, even decades to come.

Stephen Starr is a journalist who has lived in Syria and Turkey since 2007. He is the author of Revolt in Syria: Eye-witness to the Uprising