Ronald Ronnie Kasrils, intelligence minister of South Africa, warned on August 29 that Al-Qaeda members are trying to build their network in southern Africa, in order to launch attacks against African ports.

According to local reports, Kasrils said at a navy conference in Cape Town that some organizations in Africa claimed they are part of Al-Qaeda or other organizations, and we also found people taking shelter in southern Africa to set up their network. Africa is engaged in offshore oil and gas exploitation, he pointed out, which can easily become targets of criminals and terror groups.

The ocean passages and ports of Africa are very busy, said Kasrils, which left us unable to prevent terrorists from attacking coastal targets. He added that Africa has a coastline as long as 18,180 kilometers south of Sahara, and African countries must share intelligence and cooperate in investigation. We must watch closely the possibility of terrorists using the ocean for attacks, for Africa is by no means a vacuum zone, he said.

High-ranking navy officials from Egypt, Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania and other African countries attended the conference, at which the possibility of cooperation on the sea and military peace keeping was discussed.

by People's Daily Online