Al Qaeda ‘planning Africa expansion’

THERE is mounting evidence that the African continent will become the next Al Qaeda hotbed as the militant group seeks to expand its global operations, a senior expert on terrorism said.

“Al Qaeda would logically look for Africa,” Peter Pham, director of the Virginia-based think-tank the Nelson Institute for International and Public Affairs, told Reuters.

Speaking on Wednesday night at a security conference in Johannesburg, Pham cited Africa’s weak governments, large Muslim communities, rampant poverty and proximity to the Middle East as factors that could make the continent a target.