Zambian Vice-President Rupiah Banda has said that political instability and chronic poverty in some Southern African countries make them fertile ground for terrorist recruitment.
Without referring to specific countries, Banda spoke in Parliament on Wednesday night of the threat of the al-Qaeda terrorist network gaining a foothold in neighbouring countries.
The proliferation of small arms in the region facilitated the work of terrorist networks, according to Banda.
Legislators unanimously approved 184-billion kwacha ($45,5-million) for the 2007 fiscal year to help equip the Zambia Security Intelligence Services against the stated terrorist threat.
Zambia is not the first country to warn of terrorist activities in Southern Africa.
A South African intelligence official warned last month he suspected international terrorists of ”laying low” in South Africa and said agents were monitoring a number of individuals and organisations, including foreigners, for terrorist links.
In Madagascar, military sources told a newspaper recently that a senior member of the al-Qaeda network, Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, was directing terrorist activities in East Africa from a hideout on the island. That report was unconfirmed by the government.
Since the twin al-Qaeda terrorist bombings in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998, the United States has also been keeping a close watch on Africa for terrorist activities, with most suspicions centring on countries in the Horn of Africa, such as Somalia.
A British terrorist suspect, Haroon Rashid Aswat, was deported from Zambia in August 2005 on suspicion of involvement in planning a US terrorist training camp. — Sapa-dpa