DEBATING GLOBAL TERRORISM: Ethical Implications for Africa's Development

Boaz Adhengo is being very selective in his use of the word terrorism. He apparently believes that governments cannot be accused of terrorism because they can be punished by war-crimes trials. But most terrorists would claim that they are fighting a long-term "war" against oppression and injustice. The lack of consensus on a definition of terrorism and the great effort expended by Adhengo to arrive at this one imply that defining terrorism is difficult and complex, but it may not need to be. No one can take the adverse moral connotation out of the word "terrorism."