US CLOSES ALL SOUTH
AFRICAN FACILITIES
Mystery and intrigue surrounds the
sudden closure of all US government facilities in
South Africa on Tuesday.
This includes the Consulate General
in Johannesburg, The Embassy in Pretoria, and the
consulates in Durban, Johannesburg and Cape Town
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It is believed that the decision to close
the facilities was prompted by a security threat.
US Embassy spokesperson Sharon Hudson-Dean
was tight-lipped about the threat.
"We received information from the regional security
office which I cannot discuss," she said.
It is unclear whether the threat was of
a terrorist nature, but international security analysts
have for some time raised concerns about security issues
in Southern African countries.
Corruption in the South African Home Affairs
department has resulted in a rife and blossoming trade
in fake passports and identity documents, and our porous
borders present an ideal transit point for extremists
and international terrorists.
This prompted the UK government to, in
March this year, impose new visa laws for South Africans
traveling to the country.
One of four men convicted of helping carry
out the terrorist attacks on the US embassies in Kenya
and Tanzania in 1998 that killed 224 people was arrested
in South Africa.
Khalfan Khamis Mohamed, a Tanzanian national, was arrested
in Cape Town in 1999 and extradited to the US, where he
was sentenced to life in prison.
Oh. And a Happy Heritage
Day to South Africans tomorrow. (sic)
Kader Khan
Editor
info@yummie.co.za
