BRITISH TRAVEL WARNING IS GENERAL, SAYS GOVT
The British government’s travel warning to its citizens about possible terrorist attacks in South Africa was general and South Africa did not believe there was really an elevated terror threat, Foreign Affairs representative Ronnie Mamoepa said on Saturday.
Mamoepa was reacting to earlier reports that the British government had warned its citizens in its travel advisory that terror attacks were possible in South Africa.
Although such attacks would not necessarily be aimed at British citizens, it said, travellers had best be vigilant. Mamoepa told Sapa the government had taken note of the warning, but regarded it as general advice.
”There is no reason to believe that the threat of terror attacks in South Africa has escalated,” he said.
Echoing this, Joel Netsitenzhe, head of the government’s communication service, said: ”Vigilance is advisable, but that is the case in every part of the world today.”
Asked for comment on the matter, Roy Jankielsohn, Democratic Alliance tourism representative Roy Jankielsohn said he found it ”unfortunate” that the British gobvernment should level a warning of such a nature at the present time, since there was no serious terrorist threat in the country.
Earlier Nick Sheppard, representative at the British High Commission in Pretoria, said: ”We keep our travel advice under constant review. The new travel advice for South Africa is based on an assessment of the latest information available to us. The British Government is revising a lot of travel advice following the terrorist bombing of a night club in Bali on 12 October. We need to ensure that all the latest information is factored in, and in some places that will mean increasing the strength of the warnings we give. South Africa is one such country.”
Sheppard said the information they had received indicated that terrorists were planning attacks in the RSA. The information was being passed on to the South African government.
He could not comment further on the nature of the threat or whether it might be linked to al-Qaeda, said Sheppard. Recent blasts which the SA government linked to rightwing elements are mentioned in the travel advisory, albeit not as part of the warning paragraph, but Sheppard said it was not believed the new threat came from this quarter. ”But we haven’t advised British nationals not to travel to South Africa”, he said. ”Our assessment that most visits to South Africa are trouble-free remains in force.” – Sapa