SA Isis fighters coming home

Iraqis celebrate while holding national flags in Tahrir square in Baghdad after Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi declared victory against the Islamic State group in Mosul. Picture: Karim Kadim/AP

Iraqis celebrate while holding national flags in Tahrir square in Baghdad after Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi declared victory against the Islamic State group in Mosul. Picture: Karim Kadim/AP

Published Jul 29, 2017

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Johannesburg - Islamic State (IS) fighters originally from South Africa who are now fleeing the Arab region are probably making their way home and the government should be looking out for them.

This is according to Iraq’s ambassador to South Africa, Saad Kindeel, speaking this week from Pretoria.

Kindeel said Iraqi forces, alongside international government partners, defeated IS fighters in Mosul earlier this month and this would have led to an exodus from his country.

Kindeel said Mosul, the second biggest city in Iraq, had been the self-proclaimed capital for the IS, which has been hell-bent on creating a homeland for its “extreme version” of Islam. Muslims worldwide have largely condemned this version.

South African authorities this week responded harshly to Kindeel’s claims.

Clayson Monyela, spokesperson for the Department of International Relations and Co-operation, said Kindeel had no right to make such statements to the media.

“We will summon him to come and explain his utterances and why he’s not sharing what he knows with relevant state agencies,” said Monyela.

Kindeel also said it had been revealed previously that South African fighters had joined the IS.

Media reports have widely listed and mentioned South Africans who have been killed in IS clashes or arrested for links to the terror group.

Monyela said: “It’s possible for someone to claim they are a national of a country and they’re not.”

The South African government has been monitoring - and found - IS links locally.

While the Home Affairs Department has confirmed that no known terrorist groups were operating in South Africa, recruitment in the country has led to arrests.

Among these arrests is the widely reported case of Brandon-Lee and Tony-Lee Thulsie, arrested at their homes in Johannesburg last year, who allegedly wanted to blow up American interests in South Africa.

They had reportedly been planning to travel to Syria - the Iraqi neighbour where the IS operates too.

Kindeel said IS recruiters promote sectarianism to gain sympathy from Muslims. They recruit Sunni Muslims to fight against what they call a Shia threat in the Arab world.

“IS projected themselves as the protectors of Sunni Muslims but it was the Sunni people in Iraq who suffered most. It was Sunni people who were displaced. We have four million people displaced in Iraq,” said Kindeel.

He said the IS had claimed Mosul and four other Iraqi provinces in 2014. Since then, Iraqis had become more united across ethnic lines to reclaim their land.

“IS declared their caliphate from Mosul and took it as its capital. People who then fought IS have come from all 18 Iraqi provinces. This is a remarkable show of unity of Iraqi people and their solidarity,” said Kindeel.

“We saw Sunnis, Shi'ites, Arabs, Christians, Kurdish and other groups joining hand-in-hand to fight IS.

“We are banking on this unity in Iraq. We still have many challenges facing us. We have to reconstruct homes, bridges, hospitals, municipal services, schools, roads and everything else that has been destroyed in the war with IS.”

Kindeel said the Iraqi government also needed to address the “damage IS has done to our society”.

“They had their own schools where they taught children to perform acts of terrorism. They also used women as sex objects and slaves. We have to look at that too,” he said.

“In just three years, IS has been able to destabilise the region as it uprooted millions of people in Iraq and Syria.”

Kindeel, who has been the Iraqi ambassador to South Africa for the past 18 months, said his government wanted to “sign a memorandum of understanding” with the South African government “on how to fight terrorists moving between our countries”.

State Security Minister David Mahlobo said in his budget speech earlier this year the South African government had a counter-terrorism strategy.

“Of our serious concern is the sustained attempts by South Africans travelling to the conflict zones especially the youth being the most vulnerable group,” said Mahlobo.

“Although, South Africa is not a primary target for attack by international terror organisations no country is immune."

Saturday Star

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