Al-Qaeda Terror Threatens Africa Games

Editor | Monday April 16, 2007 00:00

Since December last year, Algiers has been hit by one wave of terror attack after another. As the Pan- African Games approach, athletes and officials across Africa the continent must be thinking twice about their participation because of the terror.

No one has ever negotiated peace with Al-Qaeda before. So it is not expected that the Algerian government would smoke the pipe of peace with Al-Qaeda for the games to take place. From recent reports, it is clear that Al-Qaeda terrorists are targeting the nerve centres of Algeria. Hence, the possibility of Al-Qaeda striking at the All Africa Games cannot be ruled out. Algiers has suddenly turned into the city of fear due to the Al-Qaeda attacks. For the record, 33 people have already been killed and 22 injured in bomb attacks. This month, the bombs landed at the Algerian Prime Minister's offices and a police station. In February, the group targeted a number of police stations in Algiers and in March a bus carrying Russian workers was blasted. The BBC reports that six people were killed and 13 injured in seven explosions outside police stations in the eastern Kabylia region in February while 33 Algerian soldiers lost their lives this month. In December the group targeted buses in Algiers carrying foreign workers from an affiliate of the US company Halliburton. With all these, it might become untenable to host the AAG.  Perhaps this should teach Africans one lesson - fighting terrorism is not just the problem of the western powers like the USA and Britain.

Nor is it the problem of Algeria only. It is a collective effort of all sovereign states of the world. The AAG represent the pride of Africa. It is the biggest African sports event. Hence, Africans must all stand up and guard the games jealously against any force that threatens to spoil them. The economic importance of such games to the hosts cannot be over emphasised. In a stable political climate, Algeria would reap a lot of benefits that come with sports tourism from AAG.