*How US is causing panic, alarm in Nigeria, South Africa
Even if inadvertently, the United States’ action on the terror alert it issued recently is causing fear among populations and residents in Nigeria and South Africa, even as local authorities say the situation is well under control.
Recall that the US Embassy in Nigeria issued a warning to its staff over the possibility of terrorist attacks in Abuja. Nigeria’s secret police, the Department of State Services (DSS) called for calm after the US warning. Informed sources indicated that the basis of the alert by the Americans was intelligence shared by the Nigerian secret police in the first instance.
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Informed sources disclosed that DSS already arrested 4 of the 5 suspected perpetrators as at Wednesday, including one from an estate in Abuja. There were three others whose arrests were also confirmed in recent days, Quest Times learnt.
While the US Embassy has started evacuating its non-essential staff, diplomats say the reaction of both the US and other Western nations may not be more than panicky, especially because of their countries own experience in the past including what happened at the US Embassy in Benghazi, Libya in 2012.
Recall that as the Libyan uprising began to escalate in February 2011, US envoy John Christopher (“Chris”) Stevens who was on an outreach mission to the Libyan rebels and later appointed an ambassador to the country in May 2012, was brutally murdered alongside some staff at the embassy building in Benghazi.
To forestall the unfortunate events of Benghazi, the US instituted series of cautionary notes to protect its diplomatic staff against terror attacks. That explains why the embassies must provide evacuation for their non-essential staff. It’s not necessarily an indication of a dire security alert.
ALSO READ: DSS calls for calm over terror attack warnings in Abuja
Like in Nigeria, the situation is similar in South African where President Cyril Ramaphosa criticized the US for failing to discuss a terror alert issued by the American Embassy with local authorities.
The embassy in South Africa warned on Wednesday that one of South Africa’s wealthiest suburbs may be the target of an attack this weekend, and advised its staff to avoid crowds of people and other large public gatherings.
The UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office issued a travel warning echoing the US statement.
“It was quite unfortunate that the US government issued that type of warning without having had a deep-dive type of discussion with us,” Ramaphosa said Thursday at a briefing in the capital, Pretoria. “It is unfortunate that another government should issue such a threat as to send panic among our people.”