‘American citizens our top priority’

US State Department says there’s close cooperation between the US and “certainly close partners like South Africa” and Nigeria on shared security concerns.

Briefing the media on Friday, US State Department spokesman Ned Price told journalists that “any potential threat in either country could well pose a shared threat to our interests as well”.

Price was responding to a question about security alerts issued in recent days both in South Africa and Nigeria, and particularly in South Africa where the authorities have voiced concern about what they said was a lack of communication from the US’S side.

Responding directly to a question of to what extent had the US been in touch with these two countries about the security situation and to what extent he believed they had the situation under control, Price said they had no higher priority than the safety and security of American citizens around the world.

We have responsibility to the American citizen community

“That, of course, includes individuals, Americans who are working in our embassies, in missions around the world.

“We also have a responsibility to the American citizen community around the world that we provide them with timely notification when we have information available to us regarding a potential threat. We take – our obligation to the so-called “no double standard” extraordinarily seriously. So, in that vein, when we are in possession of information regarding a potential threat, we do provide it to American personnel. We take steps – prudent steps – to mitigate the threat, but also to inform the public.”

Price said the US appreciated “the effort of our Nigerian partners to address security threats in Abuja and across the country,” adding that “the same is true of our relationship with South Africa. We have a close relationship with our South African partners.”