Two African governments have been left baffled by the US government’s sudden warnings of imminent terrorist threats in their countries, without warning them in advance or giving any more detail.
US consulates in both Nigeria and South Africa warned their staff this week that attacks on major cities in both countries were likely, seemingly without telling their host governments what the threat was, and spreading “panic”.
On Wednesday, the US Embassy in South Africa issued a memo to its staff and US citizens in the country warning of a potential terrorist attack in Johannesburg this weekend.
“The US government has received information that terrorists may be planning to conduct an attack targeting large gatherings of people at an unspecified location in the greater Sandton area of Johannesburg, South Africa, on 29 October 2022,” the US Embassy in South Africa said. “There is no further information regarding the timing, method, or target of the potential attack.”
Warnings shortly followed from the UK, Australia, Canada.
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South African President Cyril Ramaphosa called the unexpected alerts “unfortunate” as it was issued “without having any type of discussion with us,” before warning of the dangers such a sudden warning could cause.
“It is unfortunate that another government should issue such a threat as to send panic amongst our people,” Ramaphosa said in a press conference.
In a broader statement responding to the warning, the South African government said that it had “noted the terror alert issued by the US Embassy,” but appeared to downplay the warning by adding that it was “part of the US government’s standard communication to its citizens” before reiterating that the South African government would take the lead in communicating to the public about any threats.