By Maggie Fick
NAIROBI, Aug 2 (Reuters) - A U.S.-trained Kenyan bomb
disposal technician stood in a field showing colleagues from
more than 20 countries how to collect evidence after the
detonation of a roadside explosive.
Security experts who met in the Kenyan capital Nairobi this
week say African nations must do more of such
intelligence-sharing to counter weapons widely considered the
greatest threat to their security forces: improvised explosive
devices (IEDs).
Popularised by insurgents in Iraq and Afghanistan, homemade
bombs were deployed by militants in nine African countries last
year and killed about 3,600 people, according to U.S. Defense
Department figures.
Some groups now use the weapons in complex attacks targeting
civilians, including in January when a suicide bomber and gunmen
from Somalia-based al Shabaab stormed an office and hotel
complex in Nairobi, killing 21 people.
African officials at this week's meeting, organized by the
U.S. military, acknowledged IEDs pose a major challenge to their
forces, in part because the devices are constantly evolving as
are the militant groups who use them.
"The enemy adapts faster than we react," said a Western
official at the conference who asked not to be identified.
"COMMON ENEMY"
Training for Africa's police and military forces has
typically focused on ways to avoid and defuse IEDs.
Now governments are looking to the next step: attacking
networks that deploy them. This requires new skills, including
analysing remnants of a bomb to glean information about who made
it and how it works.
But acquiring that intelligence is only half the battle,
U.S. military and FBI experts told the conference. Ensuring it
is disseminated throughout national security agencies and shared
with counterparts in other countries is the other half.
Groups such as al Shabaab and Nigeria-based Boko Haram
launch attacks in multiple countries, they reminded the
conference.
"Unless intelligence is being shared at the appropriate
levels and in a timely way, we'll never get ahead of the curve
in dismantling these networks," said Matt Bryden, director of
Sahan Research, a Nairobi-based think tank.
The amount of cooperation between security agencies varies
in Africa, said Michael Solis, who helps lead counter-IED
programmes at the U.S. Africa Command. L5N1ZV4AN
"It is still a very nascent concept to share information,"
he added. "We had the same evolution in the U.S. ... We went
through it decades ago, and now we have an effective
multi-agency security sector."
Kenya, which is improving its bomb squad with training and
support from the United States and other Western nations, is
further ahead than most, U.S. experts said.
"It's essential for the military and the police to work
together, so that we can win the battle against the common
enemy," said Patrick Ogina, senior superintendent of the Kenyan
police and deputy head of its bomb disposal unit.