11 Aug 2006: ISS Today: New Terror Threat - New Anti-Terror Measures?
11 August 2006: New Terror Threat - New Anti-Terror Measures?
South African Airways (SAA) is not cancelling flights to the United Kingdom yet but warned of lengthy delays on return flights because of the terror threat uncovered in London on Thursday. British police announced that they had uncovered an alleged plot to blow up US-bound aircraft (1).
The newspaper excerpt brings home that we are living in a globalised world, where events in a distant place can impinge on our daily lives in southern Africa. The event refers to the ‘airlines terror plot’, which was reportedly uncovered yesterday morning. Scotland Yard believes that the plan was to detonate explosive devices smuggled in hand luggage on to ten aircraft. Twenty-one suspects have been arrested in the United Kingdom. The threat level to the UK has been raised to critical by MI5, the highest threat level. While UK authorities are ‘confident’ that the main players are now in custody, they are far from ‘complacent’ about the threat (2).
What worries security officials about the latest terror plot is that very sophisticated, effective and difficult to detect explosives were going to be used. The initial consequence of the uncovered plot is that all incoming and most outbound flights to Heathrow Airport have been cancelled, with serious repercussions for international air travel. Flights to and from the UK and the US have been cancelled, and/or indefinitely delayed.
Meanwhile, Britain’s Transport Department has banned the carrying of hand luggage. Most civil aviation authorities around the world have followed suit. Thus, passengers flying on South Africa’s national carrier SAA now have to check in all their luggage, including electronic equipment and specifically any cosmetic liquids and gels. Extremely strict security checks have been introduced at airports around the world, and passengers have been warned to expect lengthy delays. Reminiscent of last year’s SAA strike in South Africa, passengers are left in the cold as to when they will be able to fly or return to/from their destination.
The developing global chaos caused by the terror plot probably means that the terrorists seem to have partly achieved their objectives. The world has come to a grinding halt as fear grips critical transport nodes. With the threat of a terrorist attack lurking over their heads, prospective travellers will think twice whether they wish to climb aboard a plane. And while the details of the plot remain scant, there is one consequence we can be most certain about: new and more draconian anti-terror measures are more than likely to follow in northern countries. UK authorities would seem to have added to the levels of insecurity by suggesting that although the main players are in custody, they still need to maintain a high level of vigilance (3). Presumably the intention is to provide backing to continued pressure for greater counter-terrorism powers for security agencies.
The big questions is whether the general population feels more secure, while some of its basic human rights and civil rights are being compromised. Of course, this raises the old utilitarian debate about the greater good for all. In light of an imminent terror threat that could kill thousands of people, hardly anyone would blink with an eyelid if saving those thousands would entail the temporary suspension of some civil rights. The keyword here is ‘temporary’.
Southern African countries should remain vigilant in detecting terrorist activities; however, we should be wary of importing irrational anti–terror measures to our region whose efficacy is yet to be proved. Thursday’s terror plot reminds us that we are not living in isolation from the rest of the world. 9/11 affected Africans as much as most other countries in that new, and often draconian anti-terror laws, were enacted.
In a sense, it seems the tougher the anti-terror measures are that may be introduced in the UK and elsewhere, the less perturbed would-be terrorists are by these.
Annette Hübschle
1. http://www.news24.com/News24/South_Africa/News/0,,2-7-1442_1980929,00html
2. BBC News, ‘Airlines terror plot disrupted’
3. Ibid
