02/06/2026
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
RABAT, MOROCCO -June 2, 2026
The Ambassador of Liberia to the Kingdom of Morocco, H.E. Joseph F. Johnson attended the high-profile opening ceremony of the ANCA-CERT Executive Cybersecurity Leadership Program in Rabat.
The week-long summit, running from June 1 to June 5, 2026, marks a pivotal moment for continental digital sovereignty. It is hosted in the Moroccan capital with the critical support of the Directorate General of Information Systems Security (DGSSI) and serves as the operational arm of the African Network of National Cybersecurity Authorities (ANCA).
In his opening remarks, Brigadier General Abdellah Boutrig, Vice-President of ANCA and Director General of the DGSSI, reiterated the Kingdom's unyielding backing for collective security infrastructure. He affirmed that Morocco will continually support all initiatives aimed at protecting information networks, elevating specialist skills, and consolidating the overall cyber resilience of Africa.
For his part, Ambassador Mohamed Methqal, Director General of the Moroccan Agency for International Cooperation (AMCI) said the Kingdom of Morocco, will remain a committed, supportive, and willing partner in supporting African capacity-building in the field of cybersecurity. Ambassador Methqal further emphasized that driving the digital transition while safeguarding the continent's shared digital borders remains a top-tier priority for Morocco’s South-South cooperation programs.
The Executive Cybersecurity Leadership Program comes at a crucial hour where African organizations and entities face an average of 3,153 cyberattacks per week—marking a staggering 60% increase above the global average—with cybercrime draining an estimated $10 billion from the continent annually.
The program bridges a vital governance gap across five distinct pillars aligned with the International Telecommunication Union’s (ITU) Global Cybersecurity Index: Cybersecurity Governance ; Digital Resilience; Cyber Crisis Management ; Skill Capacity Development and Regional and International Cooperation.
Rabat’s premier standing as a Tier 1 cyber hub (scoring 97.5/100 on the Global Cybersecurity Index) provides a state-of-the-art backdrop for training African decision-makers to handle borderless digital threats.
Liberia’s high-level presence at this year’s conference is the direct result of proactive diplomatic and defense engagements that was laid during bilateral discussions held in December 2025 between Ambassador Johnson and the Director General of the DGSSI, General Abdellah Boutrig.
Those initial December talks focused on identifying vulnerabilities, exchanging threat intelligence, and mapping out structural support pipelines. Recognizing Liberia’s commitment to reinforcing its domestic cyber defenses, the DGSSI and AMCI extended an invitation to the executive program, ensuring Liberian cybersecurity authorities have a primary seat at the table to build a more resilient, integrated, and secure African cyber ecosystem.