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| Africa: Subsaharan |
| Is there an al-Qaeda threat in Nigeria? |
| 2005-06-20 |
| With the closure last Thursday of the Consulate of the United States Embassy in Lagos, followed the next day by the missions of Germany, Italy, Finland, Russia, Sweden, India and Lebanon, there are now palpable fears that the Al-Quaeda network of Osama Bin Laden, might have infiltrated Nigeria in its bid to wreck havoc on US interests. THISDAY gathered at the weekend that the tip-off relied upon by the US embassy was supplied by an anonymous Nigerian but the questions remain: how real and genuine was this terror scare? Or was there more to it than mere security alert? Walter Carrington Crescent is the most popular street in Lagos when it comes to diplomatic matters. It is shaped like a loop and has only one entrance. United States, Italy, Lebanon, the Netherlands and Russia have diplomatic missions on the road. In fact, nearly all the embassies of the most influential countries in teh world are located therein and despite the busy activities noticeable in the zone, the serenity of the crescent is second to none. A sharp contrast to the peacefulness of Walter Carrington was displayed last Friday when there was an unusual security presence in the zone. Vehicles were screened with bomb detection devices by members of the Nigerian police and hundreds of gun totting security men paraded the area. This was a precautionary measure taken as a result of a statement released by the American government last week that it has received threats from terrorists that an attack was imminent on US interests in Nigeria. Because of this terror scare, US temporarily closed its consulate and those of Britain, Germany, Italy, Russia and other nations followed suit. Nigerian security officials who spoke to THISDAY on conditions of anonymity said there were telephone calls to the embassy which warned of attacks. The security officials offered no further details. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |