Terrorism in Africa and the quest for world peace: The role of philosophy

Abstract

Today, the world all over is under a scourge and no complete remedy has been advanced to right this wrong.Countries across the world are being terrorized and ravaged by extremism; both territory and minds are conquered by militant and ideological crusades. These dangers have resulted to closures of boarders between nations, station check points at the edge of every city and town resulting tofences and wall erections by over cautious and suspicious guards.Compulsory national identity card is now arequirement for everyone by immigration officers and other agencies as neighbors and friends are turned into secret spies, watching each for the smallest deviation from right thought and deed. The reality is that complete safety is not possible any more than ending the drunken driving deaths on our highways. This paper seeks to find out what terrorism is all about, who are the terrorists? Is terrorism peculiar to the west and Middle East? Is this scourge also witnessed in Africa and to what extent? Are there   justifications anywhere in the world for terrorism and terrorists? What are roles of world leadersand different religious leaders to stern this tide to ensure world peace?  The paper tasks philosophy as catalyst of world peace to use her universalistic posture based on rationally approved, impartial principle, of recognizing a universal humanity rather than a particular group or person to harmonize these conflicting divides of races and religion in a secular world. Expository method was used in this paper.