TERRORISM : is closing embassies an efficient strategy ?

It was an astonishing surprise when US government announced a temporary closure of its embassies both in Middle-East and in some countries in Africa, Burundi included, due to terrorism threat- by Jean-Marie Ngendahayo 

US embassy in Manama, Bahrain on Aug. 4, 2013.©Hassan Jamali AP)

No one could seriously believe that by shutting their diplomatic premises for a while will pave a new secure way of life for American citizens and diplomats within those targeted countries. Normally, in all circumstances diplomatic missions are the last ones evacuated in the last resort. We all still have in mind pictures of the rushing out Cambodia by U.S. diplomats and troops in April 1975. Similar events occurred in Léopoldville ( today Kinshasa) in 1961 when the city was ablaze and the Belgian embassy was the only safe place to be for Westerners.

How can USA close today embassies due to terrorist potential attacks before evacuating its citizens out of those considered unsafe countries? What can be the Obama administration explanation if ever an American citizen were harmed during such a peculiar period of consular and diplomatic vacuum? It is said that “local emergency services will still be available for locally based U.S. citizens” . How, on earth, such emergency services could work efficiently without putting local based U.S. citizens in jeopardy?

I do believe that indeed an objective threat against US interests is roaming around these days. Actually this situation prevails since September 11, 2001 attacks inside and outside USA frontiers. Nevertheless, the pertinent response to such menace can’t be the recent one. One can suspect that what is said to be the reason is not. US administration is probably reinforcing security measures within the new built or renovated embassies in potentially hostile regions. And the process certainly requires evacuation of local staff to minimize any indiscretion. Nowadays, too much high level alert information had been spread all over the world through Wikileaks and Edward Snowden High-Tech specialist; it is time to up-date the whole security systems overseas.

Furthermore, at the occasion of president Obama passage to Dar Es Salaam last month, he reiterated the president Kikwete’s call for dialogue between Kigali regime with armed groups hidden in Eastern DRC . Rwanda government refused to deal with so called “terrorists” organizations. What if Rwanda reminded U.S. administration its own rationale used for other nations and not for itself?