BBC | Focus On Africa Magazine | Forum: How will Bin Laden's death affect al-Qaeda?

Will Bin Laden's death increase the possibility of terrorism in your country? Do you think the USA government was right to shoot him and not take him alive? Would it have been better for him to stand trial for war crimes?

To take part in the debate simply fill in the form on the right. A selection of your comments will appear below.

The death of Osama Bin Laden will never reduce terrorism in my country, even in the world at large because even when he is no more, some parts of the world still experience terrorist attack, such as the Boko Haram one's in Nigeria. Meanwhile, kudos to US

1. Bin Laden's death will reduce the possibility of terrorism in my country. 2. The USA government was right to shoot him, because getting closer to him was hard,as he was continuously changing positions. 3. If he was captured, it would have been better to stand trial for war crimes and crimes against humanity and given the death sentence

It is not easy to determine if the death of Osama Bin Laden will increase the possibility of terrorism in my country or any other country because the death of Bin Laden is a single phenomena, but terrorism is an issue which cuts across society and is due to social, political and economic issues. You can't say that Bin Laden was the fundamental pillar of terrorism, as terrorism prevailed before, during and even after his death

Osama's death was a sigh of relief for America and to mankind. We don't have to live in fear of creatures created by God like him. Cheers Obama, you are a true leader

The killing of the monster may reduce the possibility of terrorism in my young country South Sudan, because Sudan/Khartoum remains a prominent foe to us here and has been a safe haven for the ogre in the past. The US forces were right not to take him alive because he resisted being taken alive and is a public enemy. Taking him alive would also mean keeping the spirit of terror alive. Cheers US. Slain Bin Laden means keeping the world safe

Arresting Bin Laden alive would have paved the way to getting more terrorists to justice, as his death is now hiding a lot of useful information from the world. I think his death may promote terrorism in my country

I don't believe America killed him. If they had they would have brought the corpse out to prove that they really did it. Instead they gave us a fake picture claiming it was Osama. Mr Obama, we don't believe you

The death of Osama Bin Laden is not going to spark up a terrorist attack because terrorist attacks had been taking place when he went in hiding, so it's not going to be anything different.The reverse would have been the case if the US army had not killed him because Al-Qaeda would have been spurred on to attack, knowing that their leader was in US custody

Not in my country but probably in some African countries. The USA government should have arrested him alive and brought him before justice; shooting him was not the best decision because his death is still mysterious. Where is the real proof of his death? Perhaps it was someone else's body

I will always remember the night of July 11th in Kampala (the twin bomb attacks in which we lost our nationals and internationals). Why should people turn themselves into 'gods' on earth? I hope Uganda, Africa and the rest of the world will have lasting peace. Lord have mercy

Osama was a product of a grand conspiracy led by the United States. They created an egg-laying goose that offered them excuses to invade Asia, while pretending to fight terror and while exploiting Asia's resources. I don't deny Osama was real but the threat level was exaggerated. From the beginning he was part of their plan and a benefactor. After they are done with Asia, having realized the resources are vanishing, they are now back in Africa. The same people are using the media to exaggerate the drought threat level with an aim of bringing their business to Africa. Out-dated contraceptives; local terrorism; blah blah blah. It's all another grand conspiracy. Somebody should read the book titled "The grand chessboard"

America did the right thing in shooting Bin Laden. He caused many people to lose their lives. It is good to kill him, he deserves it. Well done

Osama's death shows that god will bring all those who are trying to destroy his flock to ruin. If he wanted a fair trial, what was the reason for him going into hiding for so many years?

The USA government was right to do such an act in order to protect the whole world from Al-Qaeda. As it is said, if you kill a snake and cut off its head the whole body will not be of harm; that is the case of Bin Laden. The Al-Qaeda movement will only make threats but they have no hope as they had when Bin Laden was alive

Why did the death of Bin Laden take so long? His death is not absolution, but without him, life is better for the rest of world

What the US commandos did was the best they could under the circumstances. An eye for an eye. The world is a better place without that terrorist. His death clearly signals that whatever time passes, the civilised world will not tolerate murder

Osama Bin Laden's death was a signal to the terrorists that you cannot commit crimes against humanity and just run away like that. The terrorists will always live in fear if they commit these crimes

Really, there is no doubt that the death of the al-Qaeda leader brought happiness to the world, but one thing is clear: you can kill a man but you can't kill his ideas, especially when they have reached every nook and cranny of the world. To me the al-Qaeda leader is alive because his ideas still live on. The same happened here in Nigeria when Mohammad Yousef was killed, but his men still carry out his work. All hands should be on deck to eradicate this ugly trend in our society

Really the death of Osama Bin Laden will enable my country to become stable because Osama will give more support for Al-Shabaab and this will help my country to be free of al-Qaeda

The first thing to consider is the fact that Osama has come and gone, so in view of this, the wrong signals have been sent to the whole wide world that the killing of Bin Laden was not justified by the American government. This act will forever be remembered by Islamic fundamentalists and extremists, thereby increasing the act of terrorism all over the world. The death of Osama sparked protest in the northern part of Nigeria

One of the hallmarks of any celebrated democracy is justice: the accused faces trial and is aquitted, jailed or executed by the verdict of the court. America's murder of bin Laden without trial and a court verdict testify to us that America is above the law or, better still, defies its own gospel of democracy

The US could have taken him alive to stand trial rather than kill him. This will breed more terrorists because there are lots of people, especially in northern Nigeria, who still don't believe Osama is dead

Osama's death had no impact whatsoever on my country, but the issue of the US government taking his life in a rather secret sense is a thing that is not good, in my opinion. He should have been tried and convicted, in order to deter prospective acts of terrorism

No, the death of Bin Laden will not increase any possibility of terrorism in my country.The US government was very wrong to have killed him. They should have captured him alive and sent him to court for war crimes

Osama Bin Laden as a figure does not wholly represent al-Qaeda or even global terrorism. Indeed his death will on one hand call for dissatisfaction of Muslim jihadist, meaning more work has to be done by global leaders to suppress any form of expression of their dissatisfaction. On the whole, justice would have been more prevalent if he had faced the law

Bin Laden's death is surely a big blow to terrorists the world over. It will make the world safer. His death, I believe, will signal the end of international terror, although it will happen gradually

I do not condemn what the Americans did to Bin Laden, but they should have given him a hearing. Perhaps Bin Laden knew something that the whole world does not know yet; perhaps he had answers for most of us who wake up every day and try to understand why a person can be hardhearted enough to end the lives of the innocent people - like what happened in Kampala at the Kyandondo rugby club

The death of Bin Laden is for me about having peace around the world. How many billons of dollars have been spent on trying to kill him and for how long?

The Americans did the worst job ever of killing Osama. That was not justice! He should have been captured alive and tried in a court of competent jurisdiction

Osama's death obviouly will affect the leadership of the al-Qaeda. He had established himself as a fatherly figure and basically the group centered on him as a person. He had developed a global network that saw him as a uniting factor. It will be a matter of time before we see another person of his capability

Bin Laden's death has no impact on my country, but his death will help the re-election of President Obama. Killing by shooting him was the best solution and America must stand strong as this is not the end of terrorism

Americans did the right thing by shooting Bin Laden. Many people lost their lives because of him. He deserves it, well done

It is going to increase the threat to Uganda through Al-Shabaab. It was right to eliminate him right away. It avoids scenes where he could brag before victims of 9/11 as a martyr of Islam. Imagine a scenario where he is sentenced to life imprisonment and then he goes on to brag that he is dying as a martyr. It is good he was shot on sight

I think the death of Bin Laden was timely because he left very many in grief. So he also tested the bullet which he has been using on others. There was no need for trial because there could be tension all over the world. Thanks for the good work done by the Americans and congratulations to President Obama for having brought the radical down to earth

Bin Laden's death may not necessarily end terrorist acts in the world since a lot of followers have been indoctrinated. There may even be a succession plan due to the long period of hunt. Lets all be careful and on the look out

The news of Bin Laden's death was a sudden bolt from the blue after a ten year moribund search for him under the auspices of the 'war on terrorism'. While his death may not effectively end the war on terror, it has proved that sworn terrorists can be fed a dose of their own medicine no matter how long it takes!

Just like what happened to Jonas Savimbi's UNITA and Laurent Nkunda's CNDP, the death of Osama Bin Laden is a nail in the coffin of the al-Qaeda network. I do not think it would have been better if the USA had captured him alive. What for? Is it to prove to the world that they could capture a big-time terrorist like him. No. No. No. You don't keep a rattle snake in your house just to claim that you are man enough

Yes, it was good that Americans had burnt him alive rather than putting him under captivity because he deserves to die for making people hate the world they had loved to love

I think that the US Government was wrong to shoot Bin Laden. Instead they could have taken him alive so that they could use him to investigate more terrorist attacks that we all don't know about, together with the previous one

I do know for sure that if the head of the snake is cut off, the body loses control; it has no direction and no force. The USA was right because of what he did across the world, especially the evil against my peaceful people in the USA on September 11th