Britain has said there is a high threat of attacks against foreigners in shopping areas in South Africa, two days after a similar advisory was issued by the United States embassy in Pretoria.

Africa’s most industrialised country has a significant expatriate and tourist population but has seldom been associated with Islamist militancy. South Africa’s government said the country was safe following the U.S. warning on Saturday.

The British government said upmarket shopping areas and malls in the commercial hub of Johannesburg and Cape Town, widely regarded as South Africa’s tourism capital, were the main target areas in the suspected planned attacks.

“There is a high threat from terrorism. Attacks could be indiscriminate, including in places visited by foreigners such as shopping areas in Johannesburg and Cape Town,” the British government said in a statement on its travel advice website.

“There is considered to be a heightened threat of terrorist attack globally against UK interests and British nationals, from groups or individuals motivated by the conflict in Iraq and Syria. You should be vigilant at this time,” the statement said.

On Saturday, the US also warned its citizens of possible attacks by Islamist militants on US facilities or shopping malls in South Africa during the month of Ramadhan.

It was not immediately clear what triggered the warnings but security officials say there are no known militant groups operating in South Africa. It has only a small Muslim population.

South Africa’s State Security Minister David Mahlobo said in a statement today that “we remain a strong and stable democratic country and there is no immediate danger posed by the alert.”

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Sudan and South Sudan have signed a series of security agreements, including immediate re-deployment of joint military forces along the Safe Demilitarized Border Zone (SDBZ), and approved a plan to stop supporting and harbouring rebels as well as open the crossings points.

The Joint Political and Security Committee (JPSC), co-chaired by the defence ministers, held a six-hour meeting in Khartoum to discuss the activation of the security arrangements agreed in September 2012.

On 14 October 2015, South Sudan’s defence minister Kuol Manyang Juuk and his Sudanese counterpart Mohamed Ahmed Ibn Ouf signed an agreement to operationalize the buffer zone between the two countries.

But the JPSC meetings to decide the effective activation were adjourned several times due to the security situation in South Sudan.

In press statements after the meeting, Sudan’s Foreign Minister Ibrahim Ghandour said that the JPSC agreed to enforce all the concluded agreements on the buffer zone, flexible border and to stop supporting rebel groups.

“With regard to the support of rebel groups, specifics will be enforced by the concerned security services of both countries,” Ghandour said.

After the signing of the Cooperation Agreement, the two countries had already deployed the Joint Border Verification and Monitoring Mission (JBVMM). But on 22 November 2013, Juba stopped the operation, fearing that delimitation of the centreline, which passes through contested areas, may be seen as final location of the boundary.

Juuk, who led the South Sudanese delegation, said the meeting ended by agreeing to implement the joint cooperation agreements signed since September 27, 2012.

The two governments, he added, will immediately start enforcing the agreed decisions, and further stressed the need to reach negotiated solutions to end tensions on the border areas.

“The rebel movements are a reality and their problem must be solved so that peace will prevail between the two countries,” said Juuk adding “This problem will be resolved soon.”

South Sudanese officials, on several occasions, proposed to mediate the conflict with their former comrades of the SPLM-North in the Blue Nile and South Kordofan, but Khartoum rejected this proposition saying they are party and cannot be a mediator.

Among the signed documents, the parties agreed to send separate reports to the United Nations Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA) which will participate in the JBVMM and the African Union High-Level Implementation Panel (AUHIP) which brokered the deal.

They also agreed that the border crossing point committee will meet in Juba within the next two week to determine the dates and procedures for the opening of the 10 points. They will also demand the African Union to send the needed technical teams to implement the deal.

They also agreed to establish three consulates on the demilitarised border areas.

The meeting also agreed to task a joint committee headed by the directors of intelligence services with the file of the disputed areas. In addition, with regard to the committee of disputed 14 Mile, it was decided to task the chiefs of general staffs in the two countries with its chairmanship.

It goes without saying that this measure aims to the Dinka Malual and the South Sudanese People Liberation Army (SPLA) Chief of General Staff, Paul Malong Awan who convinced President Salva Kiir in November 2013 to stop the operation on the ground that it would enable Sudan to pretend in the future to the ownership of the disputed areas.

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An estimated 3,000 people gathered in Yerushalayim yesterday for the annual ceremony memorializing Jews who died on the way to Israel from Ethiopia.

Between 1984 and 1985 roughly half of those who attempted the perilous trek from Ethiopia through Sudan never reached their destination. Of some 8,000 who left for Israel, 4,000 reportedly perished on the way.

In 2007, a monument was erected on Mount Herzl to commemorate the fallen, and in 2011 the Knesset passed a resolution making the memorial an annual event that is held on Yerushalayim Day.

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and President Reuven Rivlin addressed the crowd, both noting the sacrifices made to come to Israel, and the difficulties that many from Ethiopia continue to face in Israeli society.

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