Editorial: Africa should face the terror in the skies

Yet again, an aircraft from EgyptAir has had a mishap in the space of less than two months. The first one, thankfully, ended without any real incident, the ‘hijacker’ appearing to be a mentally lost and lovesick man.

Last week, however, the story is very different. This time, a plane actually does crash and all passengers and crew feared dead.

On March 29, 2016, when EgyptAir Flight 181 from Borg El Arab Airport, Alexandria to Cairo International Airport was hijacked and diverted to Larnaca International Airport, Cyprus, the issues were resolved rather peacefully and the ‘terrorist’ apprehended.

This time, with EgyptAir flight MS804 from Paris to Cairo, there was no chance of this, as the plane apparently plunged into the Mediterranean Sea.

In the past episode, there were concerns raised about security at the Egyptian airports, the plane having taken off from Cairo, headed for Europe. This time, however, the plane set off from France, headed for Egypt. It was also reported that there were no less than three security personnel on the airplane.

This means a lot for airport security. After the now infamous September 11, 2001 attacks, America overhauled their security checks to include pre-flight and even pre-booking checks.

There is a new threat in the skies, and this has been exemplified by the incidence in March where a Germanwings Flight 9525 co-pilot locked the pilot out of the cockpit and intentionally crashed the aircraft into a mountain, killing all on board. Then there was the incident of Malaysia Airline flight MH370 in which the plane seems to have been deliberately taken off course and disappeared off the radar.

So, what is African aviation to do in the face of this new threat? Added security at all international and domestic airports is a must. It may inconvenience passengers initially, but it is all for the best.

Vigilance is another part to be played by both the airline agencies, government security agencies and also employers of these pilots and crew. In the cases of the Germanwings and Malaysia Airlines, the pilots are the key suspects. The Germanwings pilot clearly had issues, but these were ‘overlooked.’

Overall, however, flying is still the safest way to travel and airline fatalities are drastically reducing, and are at the lowest possible over all time according to several researches.

The spectre of terrorism still looms in the background and we have progressively seen terrorists adopting new and bolder methods of achieving their deadly aims with scarce a thought for their own safety. It is therefore only with vigilance and a good security and information system that many of these terrorist groups can be foiled.

Perhaps African airlines are not so much of a target, being least involved in the direct fight against terror, however, this does not call for complacency.

The airline that has been attacked is an African airline. It is important therefore, that the OAU and other affiliate bodies take a long and hard look at these incidents and devise appropriate actions to both avert and also nip any incidences of this kind in the bud.

While it is true that many security measures and precautions will be a big cost in funds and manpower, it is still important to try and safeguard one of the fastest and easiest ways to carry people in Africa, by air.

A lot of innovations are being carried out by the manufacturers of the airlines to ensure that there is safety in the skies, and a lot of training is going on in the airlines around the world to face the possibilities of terrorism. Africa should also join this bandwagon and learn to be prepared to face the new threats and come out unscathed.

There is still a lot of ground to cover in Africa, beginning with the actual interconnection of the cities, but while this is being done, it is important to look into the issues surrounding safety and take them very seriously.

We used to think terrorism was a far away thing until the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania ware bombed. Then Somalia became a hotbed of terror and Kenya and Uganda were attacked.

We should be ahead of the sky terror this time around.

By Editor, Saturday, May 28th, 2016


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