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JOHANNESBURG (AFP) - A team of South African officials left for Algeria Saturday night to seek advice on combating urban terrorism in Cape Town, which the government blames on Muslim vigilantes, the Sunday Times Newspaper reported. The delegation, which comprises officials from the justice department, the office of the national director of public prosecutions and the police, will meet their counterparts in Algeria, it said. President Thabo Mbeki, who will make a three-day visit to Algeria starting Friday to discuss bilateral relations, drew a parallel last Thursday between the Cape Town bombings and attacks by Islamic fundamentalists in Algeria. "You have a situation where crime becomes prevalent, there are drugs and all sorts of problems," he told colleagues about a magistrate trying terrorism cases who was assassinated in a drive-by shooting. "You have people who decide to take matters in their own hands ... the government was quite happy that people themselves became responsible for their social situation, but of course in time that translated into real civil war in Algeria." Government ministers blame the Muslim vigilante group People Against Gangsterism and Drugs (PAGAD) for the four-year wave of bombings which have left three people dead and more than 100 wounded, but have obtained no bombing convictions, and PAGAD denies all involvement. It has launched a campaign against proposals to enact an anti-terrorism bill to increase police powers in terrorism cases. |
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