Courtesy of an e-mail from reader D. H., we learn that Al Qaeda and/or its sympathizers appear to be setting up new training facilities in yet another country - this time my land of origin.
The police’s specialised unit, Crimes Against the State (CATS) and the State Security Agency (SSA) have been monitoring the training of al-Qaeda terrorists in South Africa for several years, without taking any action. A year-long investigation by the Daily Maverick’s DE WET POTGIETER has revealed surprising inaction by police despite incriminating evidence about secret military training camps and sophisticated sniper training at three well-documented locations as well as several others across South Africa. These subversive activities have taken place at a farm near the notorious Apartheid police hit squad camp at Vlakplaas outside Pretoria, as well as a secluded farm in the mountains of the Klein Karoo.
There's much more at the link. Worth reading for everyone interested in the menace of Islamic fundamentalist terrorism.
I find this report believable, based on my encounters during the 1980's and 1990's with South African Islamic fundamentalist groups such as Qibla and PAGAD. Furthermore, I know the area of that farm in the Klein (Little) Karoo, and of the golf course mentioned later in the article, very well. I spent several years living near both locations, and traveled both areas extensively. It's sad to read of both sites perhaps being used as terrorist training bases. Regrettably, the present South African government is incompetent, corrupt, and insular to a fault. They probably don't care about how the activities of what are, to them, minor nuisance groups might affect the situation in other parts of the world.
Oh, well - yet another reason not to return to South Africa, even for a visit . . .
Fundamentalist extremists (and terrorists of their ilk) are like molehills. No matter how fast you stomp 'em down when you see them rising, they'll pop up somewhere else in short order - and you'll never be able to whack all the moles.
Peter
1 comment:
Three years ago, while in New Mexico, I was chatting with a gent about the odd places and unexpected things you can find tucked away in the state. He said yeah, he was wondering about a ranch not far from Abiquiu (north central part of state) that had been bought by "Arabs," supposedly as a boys school. The gent did not look happy. *sigh* And I remember when the worst thing was the Sc1ent0logists setting up shop.
LittleRed1
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