The president of South Africa criticizes the anti-terrorist alert launched by the US for Johannesburg

Oct. 27 (EUROPA PRESS) –

The president of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa, has considered “unfortunate” the notice released on Wednesday by the United States Embassy, ​​which warned of a possible terrorist attack this weekend in the city of Johannesburg, and has defended that his Government works ” at all hours” to contain the risks.

Ramaphosa, who has appeared in Petroria accompanied by the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, has criticized the US Embassy for making the notice public without having previously explained the details to the South African authorities.

After the alert was disseminated, there was such contact at the initiative of South Africa, according to Ramaphosa, who saw it necessary to “precisely” understand issues such as the origin of the information that gave rise to the Embassy’s message.

The South African president has pointed out that this type of notice causes “a lot of panic” among the population, who should be able to find out what their own government tells them. In this sense, he has pointed out that the South African agencies monitor “very closely” any threat.

The American alert alluded to alleged plans to “perpetrate an attack against large gatherings of people in an unspecified place in the Sandton area,” one of the most prosperous neighborhoods in Johannesburg. The Embassy did not clarify either the method or the objective of these potential attacks.

Johannesburg has not suffered a major attack in recent decades, although the country is under threat from the Islamic State group, which has warned of possible attacks in retaliation for South African involvement in anti-terror operations in northern Mozambique.