‘No place safe from terrorism’
SOUTH Africa had warned that no place was safe from terrorism and it wanted an international co-ordinated approach to fight extremism, President Jacob Zuma said yesterday after meeting the Dutch Prime Minister, Mark Rutte.
He said in Pretoria that an organisation like the UN should look at how information could better be shared to foil attacks and decide on “what we do with extremists”.
“What we are calling for is that we need to co-ordinate our actions against terrorists globally. This must emerge in one form or another. Terrorists are not going to attack in one place and concentrate there. They will attack anywhere.
“It was the United States some years ago, it has been in the Middle East, in Africa, in Europe. So there is no place that is safe. So it’s a question of given the recent attacks how do we co-ordinate a number of things. Intelligence … it is critical for countries to know what is coming, what are the plans. When we were in Turkey (at the G20 meeting) they followed a plan, for example, to do something.”
Rutte, who was on an official government visit to the country and accompanied by 70 companies keen to do business with South Africa, cut his two-day trip by a day following terrorist attacks in Paris which left at least 129 people dead. He felt that in the circumstances, it would be better to be back in the Netherlands.
Rutte said South Africa, which is a founding member of the Global Counter-terrorism Forum along with the Netherlands and 28 other countries, was the key in helping to fight terrorism on the continent.
“South Africa’s leadership is also highly valued … because of leadership on the African continent in terms of bringing stability to parts of Africa where stability is needed.
“That fact that South Africa is involved in solving a number of conflicts on the African continent is important because we do not want these conflicts to grow into a situation where potential terror attacks in the future might originate from,” he said.
While there were some concerns that remarks by Zuma early this year on the legacy of Dutchman Jan van Riebeeck would hang over this visit, it was not the case as both Zuma and Rutte laughed when asked questions by a reporter.
Strife
Zuma caused an outcry in some circles after he said that the country’s problems started with the arrival of Van Riebeeck in 1652, who started racial strife by attacking and colonising the indigenous population.
A Dutch reporter asked Zuma if he expected Rutte or the Netherlands to take responsibility for Van Riebeeck’s actions.
“Not at all. We are not saying either of them must take responsibility. It’s a fact of history … when Jan van Riebeeck arrived here that changed the situation in the manner in which we were living as people in this country.
“Firstly he arrived as a friend needing help and needing co-operation. Once he established himself he began to fight the indigenous people and that was what I was referring to,” Zuma said.
Co-operation between South Africa and the Netherlands will increase following the government and business visit. Yesterday the countries signed two memorandums of understanding on science and technology, and “co-operative societies”. A letter of intent on agriculture was also agreed to.
At the end of the week a number of agreements are also expected in other areas including water management and filming. The Dutch are camping out at the #HouseoftheFuture in Newtown, Johannesburg, this week to show what they have to offer the city and the rest of South Africa.