The two-day Africa regional high-level conference on counter-terrorism and the prevention of violent extremism conducive to terrorism kicked off on Wednesday in Nairobi, capital of Kenya. (Xinhua/Charles Onyango)

NAIROBI, July 11 (Xinhua) -- The African Union (AU) has called for enhanced monitoring of internet activity in order to combat terrorism activities.

Idriss Mounir Lallali, deputy director of African Center for the Study and Research on Terrorism at AU told a global forum on Wednesday in Nairobi that terror networks are using online platforms to recruit and plan their criminal activities.

"There is a necessity to monitor terror activities online in order to improve the security of the continent," Lallali said during the Africa regional high-level conference on counter-terrorism and the prevention of violent extremism conducive to terrorism.

Lallali said that other continents have been successful in foiling terror activities through monitoring social media platforms and Africa's security agencies should enhance their presence on digital platforms.

"The challenge is to engage the internet service providers most of whom operate outside Africa to enable the continent to gather evidence that exists online in order to prosecute terror criminals," he added.

In 2014, the AU Convention on Cyber Security and Personal Data Protection was adopted. Lallali said that a number of AU member states have domesticated the continental protocol.

"The convention calls and requires member states to take particular measures to address crime that is conducted online," Lallali added.

He observed that the African countries with strong cybercrime legislations will be requested to assist their counterparts to develop similar laws.

According to the AU official, the continental accord will accelerate efforts to leverage use of technology for counter-terrorism purposes.