Local Muslim activists have taken issue with reports that an al-Qaeda terrorist cell in South Africa planned to disrupt the 2010 Fifa World Cup and said they rejected any such plan as Contrary To Islam™."As committed citizens of this country, we pledge unequivocal support to the government and its security forces (and) to assist in whatever way we can to avert any attack on our people or visitors to our country during the World Cup," a statement by the International Peace University of South Africa (Ipsa) said.
The statement, supported by the Muslim Judicial Council, was issued after a symposium on extremism at the Ipsa offices in Rylands yesterday.
It said South Africans should guard against "information peddlers who mislead the public with information that has no basis in fact".
The statement followed recent reports of an intercepted telephone conversation between a Somali in Khayelitsha and a radical group in Somalia. The conversation was apparently about plans to attack United States government and civilian targets in South Africa in retaliation for US military strikes on al-Qaeda leaders in Somalia.
It led to US offices in South Africa being closed for three days.
Ipsa member Rashied Omar said that the reports of the al-Qaeda terror network were unsubstantiated and devoid of truth, and created a bad image of Muslims here and abroad.
The Somali Community Board of SA said Somalis in South Africa already suffered discrimination and brutal attacks, and that unfounded allegations could lead to them being marginalised further.
That one probably is true, seems like south african blacks have an "one-size-fits-them-all" answer to immigration, IE necklacing.
The board's Western Cape chairman, Abdirashid Aafi, said this could also result in Ethnic Profiling™ of Somali refugees.
Ipsa deputy rector Ighsaan Taliep said papers delivered at the symposium would be submitted to the intelligence ministry and statements made yesterday would be sent to all mosques in South Africa.
Seraj Hendricks, imam at the Azzavia Mosque in District Six, said: "The media should critically examine its sources."
Maybe CNN could consider that ...