Africans must probe the wave of insecurity now sweeping Nigeria, Mali, Democratic Republic of Congo, Libya, Kenya and Somalia. Terror attacks against innocent civilians slow down the African dream to scale up the productivity of her people. The quest for a united Africa is jeopardized by groups aggrieved by one aspect of their country leadership or the other. Matters are made worse when insecurity is driven along religious and ethnic lines.

The U.S. Africa Command has rightly observed that Africa-based terrorist groups are on the increase. Expanding military aid to Africa without addressing underlying causes of insecurity and armed conflict on the continent will only aggravate the situation. While Africa should indeed take time to learn how the US and other developed countries manage to tame insecurity, the continent should not simply surrender to faith in arms.

African countries must urgently probe causes of the surge in insecurity on the continent. A continent-wide anti-terror initiative should then be informed by findings of such a probe. Insecurity should not derail Africans from focusing on the development agenda and honing skills to navigate in  the ever evolving global systems.