Belgium acknowledges ‘decades of neglect’ in anti-terror fight

Belgium’s interior minister has acknowledged that decades of neglect played a role in the creation of security loopholes that were exploited in recent terrorist attacks in the European country.

This was despite the pumping of money into the country’s security apparatus over the past couple of years.

Jan Jambon, who is also the country’s vice-prime minister, acknowledged that Belgium had made mistakes in the run-up to the March 22 attacks in Brussels, which killed 31 people and wounded 270 others.

He said the Belgian government has invested 600 million euros (USD 670 million) in police and security services over the past two years, adding, however, that the investment would take time to display tangible results.

Jambon had earlier lamented the lack of enough police and security forces to deal with the aftermath of the attacks in Brussels. On Saturday, he said police could not effectively monitor pre-planned demonstrations across Belgium that were meant to condemn the recent terrorist attacks. He urged citizens to postpone the demonstrations.

Three bombings happened in Brussels’ main airport and a metro station on Tuesday, and were claimed by Daesh, a Takfiri group mainly based in Iraq and Syria.

Deadly terrorist attacks also claimed by Daesh targeted the French capital of Paris in November last year, killing 130 people. Those attacks had, according to security officials, been planned in Belgium.

EA