{"id":6150,"date":"2013-06-26T08:07:00","date_gmt":"2013-06-26T08:07:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/praag.org\/?p=6150"},"modified":"2013-06-26T08:12:13","modified_gmt":"2013-06-26T08:12:13","slug":"obamas-security-takes-over-sa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/praag.org\/?p=6150","title":{"rendered":"Obama’s security takes over SA"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"usmilheli\"<\/a>Hundreds of secret agents, three truckloads ofbulletproof glass sheets, 56 support vehicles – and fighter jets.<\/p>\n

These will all be part of the security deployed this weekend to ensure US President Barack Obama’s safety during his visit to South Africa.<\/p>\n

Referring to a US government internal planning document for the visit, the Washington Post reported that US Secret Service agents would be posted in secure facilities. An aircraft carrier with a fully equipped medical trauma centre will be part of the security arrangements.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

According to the newspaper, support vehicles, which include 14 limousines, will be airlifted in by US military cargo planes.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

US military helicopters were reportedly spotted yesterday flying over Pretoria and Johannesburg’s northern suburbs.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

National police spokesman Sally de Beer confirmed the US aircraft fly-overs, saying they were part of an exercise in conjunction with the US government to ensureeverything ran smoothly when Obama arrived.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

“There is nothing out of the ordinary. No outside country is operating independently [and] there is no one taking over our country,” she said.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Three Sea Knight helicopters and two Black Hawks were spotted flying over Illovo and Sandton.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

ANC alliance partners Cosatu and the SACP have vowed to protest against the visit.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

International Relations and Cooperation Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane said Obama would be warmly welcomed on Friday, as would any other “friendly” head of state.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

She said Obama’s “historic visit” followed an invitation by President Jacob Zuma.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Obama will hold talks with Zuma in Pretoria on Saturday.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

“The two leaders will discuss the status of relations between South Africa and the US.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

“The talks will range from trade, health and education cooperation, development assistance to peace, security, development and cooperation in Africa,” she said.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Obama will arrive on Friday and will preside over a Young African Leaders Initiative meeting at the Soweto campus of the University of Johannesburg.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

He will visit Robben Island and a US-funded Desmond Tutu Centre in Noordhoek. He will speak at the University of Cape Town on Sunday. – timeslive.co.za<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hundreds of secret agents, three truckloads ofbulletproof glass sheets, 56 support vehicles – and fighter jets. These will all be part of the security deployed this weekend to ensure US President Barack Obama’s safety during his visit to South Africa. Referring to a US government internal planning document for the visit, the Washington Post reported … Continue reading “Obama’s security takes over SA”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6153,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4,10],"tags":[90,12250],"class_list":["post-6150","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-south-africa","category-united-states","tag-obama","tag-south-africa"],"cc_featured_image_caption":{"caption_text":false,"source_text":false,"source_url":false},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/praag.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/usmilheli.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6150","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6150"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6150\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6155,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6150\/revisions\/6155"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6153"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6150"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6150"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6150"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}