South Africa is on edge after terror network Islamic State (ISIS) warned the country to stay clear of the group’s insurgency in northern Mozambique or risk having the militants retaliating over Pretoria’s involvement in regional efforts to contain the disturbances in the neighbouring nation.
Daesh issued the warning in its latest newsletter, Al-Naba, on Tuesday in which it told the South African government not to get involved in the conflict in Mozambique’s Cabo Delgado province.
It threatened to “open the fighting front” within South Africa’s borders should the Pretoria government get involved in Mozambique’s Cabo Delgado province.
The security situation in Cabo Delgado has worsened in recent months as militias from the ISIS-linked Ahlu Sunnah Wal Jamaah or Al-Shabaab have increased attacks on civilians.
The extremist group is attempting to set up Islamic religious schools that preach an extreme form of Islam in the province.
The opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) on Wednesday called on the South African government not to take the group’s threat lightly and urged it to urgently engage its neighbours in the Southern African Development Community (SADC).
“As a member of both SADC and the African Union, we have an obligation to safeguard the stability of our country and our neighbours,” DA lawmaker and shadow defence minister Kobus Marais said.
He said it was time that all SADC countries come together to strategize and collectively find solutions to the problem.
The opposition wants the South African National Defence Force to be deployed against the Daesh terrorists in northern Mozambique with the consent of the AU and the United Nations.
JN/APA