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Kenya, October 26 2026 - When Inspector General of Police Douglas Kanja opened the 5th INTERPOL African Committee Meeting in Nairobi, his message went beyond the usual call for cooperation.
It was a warning that crime has changed: the people behind terrorism, drug trafficking, illegal arms, cyber fraud and illegal mining no longer respect national borders, even though police forces are still largely organised around them.
Kanja told delegates from across Africa that countries must strengthen partnerships, share intelligence quickly and coordinate operations if they hope to stay ahead of criminal networks.
His argument was simple: a suspect wanted in one country can move to another, move money through a third and communicate through networks based elsewhere. In such a situation, national policing alone becomes slow and incomplete. What is needed is a system where police services can identify threats early, exchange information and act at almost the same time.
That is the real meaning behind Kenya’s push for stronger regional policing. It is not merely about attending meetings or signing agreements. It is about building trust between national police agencies so that an alert raised in Nairobi can trigger action in Kampala, Addis Ababa, Kigali or beyond.
It is also about ensuring that officers have the training, technology and legal channels needed to follow evidence, track suspects and recover proceeds of crime across jurisdictions.
Kenya’s commitment to joint operations, timely information sharing and capacity development reflects a wider shift in African security thinking. Police forces are increasingly being asked to treat crime as a regional problem rather than a series of separate national incidents.
A trafficking route, for example, may begin in one country, pass through several transit points and end in a market far away. A cyber-fraud network may be controlled from one jurisdiction while its victims and financial trails are spread across many others. Treating each part of that chain separately allows criminals to exploit the gaps.
Director of Criminal Investigations Mohamed I. Amin gave delegates a practical example of what coordinated policing can achieve. He cited Operation Serengeti, an INTERPOL-coordinated effort that has brought together African countries to confront cybercrime and fraud networks.
The most recent phase involved law-enforcement agencies from 21 countries, including Kenya, and resulted in 1,462 arrests, the disruption of more than 10,000 malicious networks and the recovery of over USD 105 million in illicit funds.
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The operation showed that when countries pool intelligence and move together, they can reach criminal structures that would be difficult for any single state to dismantle alone.
Amin also listed the threats that continue to test the continent: terrorism, drug trafficking, illicit arms trade and illegal mining. These are connected in ways that are not always obvious. Illegal mining can finance armed groups. Drug routes can overlap with arms smuggling.
Terror networks can exploit weak border controls and informal financial systems. This is why African police leaders are increasingly framing security not as isolated cases of robbery, trafficking or violence, but as interconnected criminal economies that require a shared response.
The Nairobi meeting is therefore more than a ceremonial gathering. It gives African police chiefs and INTERPOL representatives an opportunity to assess whether earlier recommendations were implemented, identify weaknesses in cooperation and agree on priorities for the coming period.
It also prepares the ground for the 28th African Regional Conference, which will be held in Addis Ababa next year. In practical terms, the decisions made in Nairobi could influence how African countries share intelligence, conduct joint investigations and respond to emerging threats such as online fraud, digital scams and transnational organised crime.
For Kenya, hosting the meeting reinforces its position as an active player in regional security. The country has previously participated in INTERPOL-coordinated operations and continues to position itself as a partner in efforts to combat transnational crime.
But the larger issue is continental: Africa’s security challenges cannot be solved by one police service, one border post or one national strategy. They demand a network of institutions that trust one another, communicate quickly and act collectively.
That is the deeper message behind Kanja’s remarks. As criminal networks become more mobile, digital and sophisticated, African policing must become equally connected. The goal is to make borders less useful to criminals while making cooperation more useful to the police services charged with protecting citizens.