Foreign fighters’ threat, online propaganda form part of G7 talks
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G7
Rome, Oct. 19, 2017 (dpa/NAN) Threats posed by foreign fighters returning to Europe after combat in Syria and Iraq and Islamist online propaganda will be at the centre of a two-day Group of Seven (G7) meeting in Italy from Thursday.
Italian Interior Minister, Marco Minniti, said that the Europeans fighting for the Islamic State militias “will try returning home” after the extremist group’s recent ouster from its former capital al-Raqqa.
“A diaspora of foreign fighters can certainly use the routes opened up by human traffickers” for migrants,’’ Minniti said.
He urged the G7 countries to develop “de-radicalisation” programmes for them, as Italy has already done with the help of national Muslim organisations.
The Italian minister was due to chair talks with the G7 counterparts on the island of Ischia, off the coast of Naples, starting at around 5 p.m.
The G7 also includes the U.S., Canada, France, Germany, Britain and Japan.
Ministers will also meet with representatives of internet companies to push the idea of “automatic blocks” against online Islamist propaganda.
“Providers must help us block this malware, ,’’Minniti said using a computer term for malicious software.
Head of Interpol, Juergen Stock, and top European Union officials for migration and security were also expected in Ischia, a tourist hotspot that made the news in August after a 4.0-magnitude earthquake killed two people. (dpa/NAN)
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Edited by Celine-Damilola Oyewole/Abdullahi Yusuf