A delegation of members of the Arab Diplomatic Corps accredited to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia discussed ways to enhance mutual cooperation between the Global Center for Combating Extremist Ideology (Etidal) and their countries.
During their reception by the Secretary-General of the Center, Dr. Mansour Alshammari in Riyadh on January 20, 2020, the delegation, which included ambassadors and diplomats from the missions of United Arab Emirates, Yemen, Palestine, Iraq, Djibouti, Lebanon, Mauritania, Egypt, Sudan, Jordan, Libya, Comoros, Tunisia, Somalia, and Algeria, stressed the importance of the regional and international efforts Etidal is making in combating radical ideology.
The Secretary-General of Etidal, Dr. Mansour Alshammari, said in a speech on this occasion: “We thank you for visiting the Center and I thank His Excellency the Ambassador of Djibouti, Dean of the Diplomatic Corps in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Dya-Eddin Bamakhrama for his coordination for this visit. We at Etidal look forward to more partnerships and cooperation with countries of rich experiences in combating extremism.” Commending the experiences of a number of Arab countries such as Iraq, Egypt and others in countering extremist ideology, he added: “We have several challenges now as we observe the high rate of youth in most Arab countries of between 70-80 percent of the population, which is increasing in conjunction with rapid changes in all directions. Therefore, there are many organizations that target the ideology of these youths to transform moderation and tolerance to radicalism and extremism, hence terrorism. We’ve come across many terrorist operations led by young people who have no history of being radicals, which leads to the necessity of studying, dismantling and developing appropriate strategies to counter the extremist content that is targeted at them.”
In their responses to questions raised by the visiting delegation, officials of the Center explained that the work of Etidal is based on analyzing extremist content of accounts on social media sites, thereby building a precise vision and strategy about that information. Officials of the Center also welcomed any cooperation with governments and civil organizations with jurisdiction in all that would promote and support combating extremist ideology. Adding that Etidal is a non-traditional center as it follows a strategy based on focusing on specialized practical and scientific aspects, and as it also provides scientific and practical experience to all who require it in the region and in the world.
The delegation was later briefed on the monitoring and analysis mechanisms, in addition to the techniques used and models built.
At the end of the visit, the guests took some commemorative pictures with the Secretary-General, Dr. Mansour Alshammari.
