The Africa Center for Strategic Studies and the African Union's (AU) African Centre for the Study and Research on Terrorism (ACSRT) co-hosted a workshop on combating terrorist financing in North and West Africa, November 30-December 5, 2008 in Algiers, Algeria.

It brought together 36 participants from the United States, six African countries (Algeria, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, and Tunisia), and five African sub-regional organizations: the Community of Sahel-Saharan States, the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (the East African Community, the Economic Community of Western African States, and the Southern African Development Community.

The workshop aimed to build African capacity as well as regional and international cooperation to regulate, monitor, investigate, and arrest financial transfers that support terrorist groups and their operations. The workshop was the fourth in a series of annual events hosted by the Africa Center and ACSRT to promote African capacities to combat terrorism, and to build capacity in areas critical the implementation of the African Union Plan of Action on the Prevention and Combating of Terrorism.

The workshop was opened by Ambassador David D. Pearce, U.S. Ambassador to Algeria, and Ambassador Boubacar Gassou Diarra, Director, ACSRT. Key African speakers included Mr. Abdelmadjid Amghar,Chairman of the Algerian Financial Intelligence Unit; Ms. Stella Aku Attakpah, Programme Officer, Inter-Governmental Anti-Money Laundering Group in Africa; Mr. Ayi d'Almeida, Head of Multilateral Monitoring, West African EcoMonetary Union; and Mr. Anton du Plessis, Head of the International Crime in Africa Programme at the Institute for Security Studies.

In addition, representatives of several U.S. Government agencies provided expert presentations, including Department of State, Office for the Coordinator of Counterterrorism; Department of Treasury, Financial Crimes Enforcement Network; Federal Bureau of Investigation, Terrorist Financing Operations Section; Department of Justice, Office of Overseas Prosecutorial Development; Assistance and Training, and Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement.