Know us
A bilateral project announced in 2017, the International Academy for Counter-Terrorism (AILCT) has become the reference center for counterterrorism on the African continent.
The creation of the International Academy for Counter-Terrorism (AILCT) was announced by the French and Ivorian Presidents during a state visit to Abidjan in November 2017.
The first training sessions began in 2019, and the facilities in Jacqueville (35km from Abidjan) were inaugurated on June 10, 2021, by Ivorian Prime Minister Jérôme Patrick ACHI, in the presence of French Minister of Europe and Foreign Affairs Jean-Yves LE DRIAN and numerous representatives of the international community from five continents.
Since its inception, the Academy has been recognized as a reference center to support African countries in the development of interministerial strategies and capacities for counterterrorism.
An ambitious project that addresses a structural and operational need of African countries
On the African continent, judicial, security, and defense cooperation in the fight against terrorism have become priority areas for African countries and their partners in recent years. Despite international military successes against terrorist armed groups, they continue to demonstrate concerning resilience. The establishment of interministerial tools and international cooperation platforms in the field of counterterrorism has become necessary to address the challenge of containing this cross-border threat.
The ambition of AILCT is to create a common counterterrorism community and culture among African forces and their international partners. The goal is to establish an interministerial network of professionals, practitioners, and units that are both autonomous and interoperable in crisis situations at both the national and continental levels.
Furthermore, by addressing the entire spectrum of terrorism and counterterrorism (from prevention across social, political, economic, and financial dimensions, through crisis management and intervention, to judicial treatment), AILCT contributes to the protection of civilian populations, the stability of partner states, and their development.
At the heart of AILCT’s project is interministerial collaboration, which involves the Ministries of Justice, Interior, Defense, Foreign Affairs, and soon Finance, to develop structural and operational capacities for counterterrorism across the spectrum. Since May 2022, the Academy has been equipped with an international board of directors that brings together all its institutional and state supporters.