WATCH: South Africa can’t ignore the presence of extremists anymore, says expert
The brutal jihadist attacks on Palma in Mozambique’s Cabo Delgado province last week, again highlighted the presence of extremists in Southern Africa. A security expert says South Africans should be on alert.
There is no reason for fear-mongering, but South Africans should be on alert for the possibility of attacks by extremists, says Willem Els, a security expert at the Institute for Security Studies.
This follows the deadly Jihadist attacks on Palma in the north of Mozambique last week Wednesday.
The Islamic terror group ISIS took responsibility for the attacks.
Dozens of people were killed in the coordinated attacks, the government said on Sunday, after the raid that forced thousands of people to flee to safety in the provincial capital Pemba.
According to the government, attackers sneaked into Palma and started murdering dozens of defenceless people.
One South African citizen, Adrian Nel, has been killed and 43 other South Africans are affected by the attacks. Hundreds of people are still missing.
Els said the presence of extremists started escalating after 2007 and got out of hand in the past couple of years.
“The government of Mozambique is partly to blame for the attacks because of the way they neglect the citizens in the northern parts of the country, making the region susceptible to extremist influences,” Els says.
ISIS warned South Africa last year already not to get involved in the region, or they will have to carry the consequences.
Although experts tried to warn about the presence of extremists in South Africa previously, they were not taken seriously, says Els.
He told Izak du Plessis that this warning cannot be ignored anymore.
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