ALGIERS, Oct 13: Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika said Africa risks becoming a reservoir for terrorism unless financing sources, sanctuaries and support networks for terror groups are eliminated.

"Our continent remains vulnerable to terrorism ... the danger it poses to all of us cannot be underestimated," he told an African Union conference which also inaugurated an AU counter-terrorism centre on Wednesday based in Algiers.

"This is why Africa's strategy must consider prevention as a priority, to prevent our continent from becoming a reservoir of terrorism, or a retreat-base for terrorist groups who can attack indiscriminately African countries themselves or other regions."

Weak political institutions and poor policing of deserts and coasts have long been seen as factors which make Africa a potentially fertile recruiting and training ground for militant groups, such as Al Qaeda, bent on mass attacks on civilians.

Al Qaeda or affiliated groups have been blamed for deadly attacks in Kenya, Tanzania, Tunisia, Morocco and Algeria. The new AU centre will gather intelligence on the financing of terrorism, identifying arms supply networks, exchange information on terrorist groups and devise ways of fighting them before they attack. It will also provide training.

"The centre will improve the capacity of African countries to fight the scourge of terrorism... (and) will give us an opportunity to expand and deepen cooperation," said Cofer Black, the US State Department's counter-terrorism expert, who addressed the conference.

Bouteflika, credited with helping end a 12-year-long Islamic uprising which threatened the very survival of the Algerian state, said frequent exchange of information, as well as joint judicial and technical assistance were key to containing and eliminating the terrorist threat.

"Many African countries have been reluctant to exchange sensitive information. This is changing and the new anti-terror centre will boost cooperation but it's only a small step," a senior Western delegate attending the conference said.

Security is possibly the greatest obstacle to Africa's development, with wars such as those in Burundi, Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo scaring off investors, uprooting millions and blighting the economies of entire regions.

Bouteflika told African Union members that successfully fighting terrorism required fighting other forms of criminality. "Besides improving legislations and harmonising legal procedures and practices, coordinated actions of border control are also necessary to destroy the channels for arms supply and put an end to the financing of criminal activities through smuggling and other illicit trade," Bouteflika said. -Reuters