British Prime Minister David Cameron said Thursday extremist and terrorist violence will be at the top of this year’s G8 summit agenda. The summit will be held in June in Northern Ireland. Cameron spoke at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
Citing the conflict in Mali and the recent terrorist attack in Algeria, Cameron says the fight against terrorists will be neither easy nor quick.
“I’ll put my cards on the table. I believe we are in the midst of a long struggle against murderous terrorists and a poisonous ideology that supports them. Just as we’ve successfully put pressure on al-Qaida in Afghanistan and Pakistan, so al-Qaida franchises have been growing for years in Yemen, in Somalia and across parts of North Africa - places that have suffered hideously through hostage taking, terrorism and crime,” he said.
He outlined what he believes it will take to succeed.
“Now to defeat this menace we’ve got to be tough. We’ve got to be intelligent and we’ve got to be patient. And this is the argument I’ll be making at the G8,” he said.
He said that, at times, military action is necessary. He backs French intervention in Mali, he said, not just with words, but with logistical support. The British prime minister said a “tough security response” must be combined with an “intelligent political response.”
“We need to address that poisonous narrative that the terrorists feed on," he said. "We need to close down the ungoverned space in which they thrive. And, yes, we need to deal with the grievances that they use to garner support. Now this means using everything at our disposal; our diplomatic networks, our aid budgets, our political relations, our military and security cooperation. And, yes, supporting in those countries and elsewhere the building blocks of democracy, like the rule of law and a free media,”
Cameron said that the G8 summit can be used to decide how nations can contribute to achieving this goal.
Citing the conflict in Mali and the recent terrorist attack in Algeria, Cameron says the fight against terrorists will be neither easy nor quick.
“I’ll put my cards on the table. I believe we are in the midst of a long struggle against murderous terrorists and a poisonous ideology that supports them. Just as we’ve successfully put pressure on al-Qaida in Afghanistan and Pakistan, so al-Qaida franchises have been growing for years in Yemen, in Somalia and across parts of North Africa - places that have suffered hideously through hostage taking, terrorism and crime,” he said.
He outlined what he believes it will take to succeed.
“Now to defeat this menace we’ve got to be tough. We’ve got to be intelligent and we’ve got to be patient. And this is the argument I’ll be making at the G8,” he said.
He said that, at times, military action is necessary. He backs French intervention in Mali, he said, not just with words, but with logistical support. The British prime minister said a “tough security response” must be combined with an “intelligent political response.”
“We need to address that poisonous narrative that the terrorists feed on," he said. "We need to close down the ungoverned space in which they thrive. And, yes, we need to deal with the grievances that they use to garner support. Now this means using everything at our disposal; our diplomatic networks, our aid budgets, our political relations, our military and security cooperation. And, yes, supporting in those countries and elsewhere the building blocks of democracy, like the rule of law and a free media,”
Cameron said that the G8 summit can be used to decide how nations can contribute to achieving this goal.
