By Martin Banks - 3rd May 2011
It is important not to forget this otherwise we will be faced with other Bin Ladens in the future
Andris Piebalgs
EU commissioner Andris Piebalgs says western countries should use the death of Osama Bin Laden to address the "root causes" of terrorism.
He was speaking after Bin Laden was shot dead by US forces in the Pakistani city of Abbottabad.
Bin Laden, 54, was the founder and leader of al-Qaeda. He is believed to have ordered the attacks on New York and Washington on 11 September 2001, as well as a number of other deadly bombings.
He was America's most wanted man but had eluded them for more than a decade.
Speaking on Monday, Piebalgs, the development commissioner, described Bin Laden as a "phenomenon of desperation and poverty".
The Latvian official said it was "crucially important" to tackle the underlying conditions that allow such figures to gain prominence.
He said, "It is not sufficient just to bring someone like Bin Laden to justice. We also need to address the causes that give rise to terror and they include poverty and desperation.
"It is important not to forget this otherwise we will be faced with other Bin Ladens in the future."
He added, "I hope the international community can use the momentum of his death to address these issues."
Piebalgs was speaking at the opening of the Brussels representation office of GIZ, which works in the field of international development issues.
Meanwhile, speaking at a separate event, a former Afghanistan government minister said Bin Laden's death "will not stop the insurgency" in his country.
Wadir Safi, a former civil aviation minister, said, "His death is to be welcomed and will come as a big blow to the leadership of al-Qaeda. But his associates are still alive and they will carry on the job he was doing."
Safi, now an expert on international law at the university of Kabul, was speaking in Brussels at an event organised by the European Foundation for Democracy.
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