African countries should work together and take timely actions to address the global challenge of terrorism, the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, Louise Mushikiwabo, said on Tuesday.

Mushikiwabo was attending an Extraordinary Summit of the African Union Peace and Security Council in Nairobi, Kenya, where she represented President Paul Kagame.

"Africa should not sit back when cherished developmental aspirations and people’s will to shape their own destiny is destroyed by terrorists who go on rampage killing innocent civilians, maiming, kidnaping, raping, and destroying property,” she is quoted in a statement as saying.

She reminded the participants that the terrorist groups, including the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), that continue to cause havoc in the region, are on the increase and are getting more sophisticated.

The minister emphasised that working together as a continent was key in fighting terrorism.

The Nairobi Summit follows a decision taken by the AU Summit in Malabo in June this year to convene a Special Summit on terrorism in Nairobi to counter increasing threats of terrorism across the continent particularly terrorist attacks on Kenya that are largely blamed on Somali terrorist group Al-Shabaab.

The summit was attended by Heads of State and Government from Chad, Kenya, Uganda, Somalia, Tanzania, Nigeria, and Niger, and representatives of Heads of State as well as African partners.